Ruby's Adventures in Remnant
by Mik Sunrider
Summary: 15 year old, five foot, 80 lbs of anger has one dream: to attend Beacon Academy, like her mother had, to be a Hunter, like her mother had been, and rid the her home of every single Grimm she finds, something that her mom did not do. Few have called her dedicated, most called her crazy, none called her friend. Can Ruby become the Huntress she desires or will her anger consume her?
1. Chapter 1

_This is an AU RWBY story, based on what would happen if Ruby grew up an orphan, unaware that she was actually related to Yang and that Tiayang Xiao Long was her father since her mom, Summer Rose, never told anyone who her father was. All characters and settings belong to_ Rooster Teeth _™ and their affiliates and I do not, nor claim to own anything in this story. I am just playing around in their pool. At no time do I plan, nor wish to, profit from this story, I just hope that you the audience and_ Rooster Teeth _™ (if they ever stumble upon my work) enjoy this story for its entertainment value._

Ruby's adventures in Remnant

Kingdom of Vale

Beacon Academy

Although, it had been a snow storm that passed over the island of Patch the night before, here in Vale, it had been nothing more than a decent rain storm. Leaving the roads slick looking for the early morning rush but still passable for most traffic. Not that the red with white trim, custom build, hover-bike was concern with something so mundane as roads as it hovers a foot above the surface of the parkway.

Weaving in and around the slower traffic, the almost 15-year-old owner of said bike, was more concern with making it to Beacon on time then the honking horns of the cars she passed. That and the cops, as long as no cops spotted her, she was fine.

Because even though the custom bike was street legal, having passed every test the Kingdom of Vale threw at it, and it was registered to her and she was wearing the approved full face helmet that all riders under the age of eighteen was required to wear; being a year too young to actually drive the bike would make it a problem.

And if the Headmistress at Vale's Heart Preparatory School for Hunters finds out that she removed her bike, again, from storage, this time she might make good on her threat to leave it in impound until she was seventeen. Considering she won't turn 15 for a couple more days, that was a bit longer then she cares to think about.

So not getting spotted was on the huge 'must do' list because if they spotted her, she was done. It wasn't as if she couldn't out run the cops, she could, easily, since her bike did close to 150 mph, it was more of the fact that her hover-bike was literally one of a kind. Being a ward of the state, growing up attending and living on campus at the prep school since she was three, with few friends and no family meant that she had a lot of free time to kill.

So not only was she the best in her class in combat, using her custom built .357 calibers gauntlets/pistols, each one had a barrel slung under her hand, as well as the 12-inch long, reverse angle, single edge blade, that was attached to the top of the gauntlets. Ruby was also really talented with a wrench as well. Not only could one tell by the bike and her gauntlets but also by her custom built duel chakram that she could remote control after tossing them. They allowed her to have free reign in the metal shop, hoping that if she was engaged in a hobby, she would be too occupied with building and creating to get into fights with the other students.

Usually.

Most of the time.

That was the hope, anyways.

So when she was eleven, at a time when most girls her age began to find fashion and boys, she began designing and building her dream bike. The two seated bike look a lot like a 'crotch rocket' but with four hover pads, two in the front that could be manipulated for turns, jumps and braking and two in rear that were fixed, that stuck about a foot out from the main body. The bike also had two thrusters in the rear for acceleration.

Braking had been the biggest problem to overcome. Her solutions had been two small hover pads that pop out of the front when she wants to slow down; using the main front pads, her deceleration pads and killing the thrust, would stop the bike but it was challenge to learn. Coming to an emergency stop took all previous steps and giving it a hard turn, that was the only sure way to kill the inertia quickly.

It went without saying the main way to avoid doing any emergency stops was not to need to make them in the first place. Just like a regular motorcycle, it took concentration and discipline above what is needed to operate regular car. When she sold the patent earlier this year, after she got the bike certified street legal, she insisted that the company who will mass produce the bike, to only market to experience riders. Only because of her semblance, her super speed, gave her advantage over other novices' riders.

"Newton's apple." She mumbled as she slid under a large truck to hid from a police car heading down the highway from the opposite direction. Being only a foot off the ground and being only five-foot-tall herself, even with her backpack on, she had plenty clearance. After traveling about a mile, she figured it must be safe and she darted back out into traffic again. She only had a couple miles to her exist anyways, so she was too close to worry about anything else now.

Ruby was on her way to take the entry exam into Beacon Academy. Normally someone like her, who had attended one of the preparatory academies found all round Remnant, would skip this part. After all, they had already proven whether or not they had the skills to advance to this level.

However, she was attempting the nearly impossible, she was trying to enter two years early. She had been studying to be a Huntress since she could walk, taking martial arts classes since before her family died fighting the Grimm, she had spent almost ten years of her life living and breathing to kill Grimm. She was the best in her age group, regardless of being only five feet tall and 80 lbs. of muscle and anger, she had the skills to survive Beacon and the real world; what she didn't have the patience to deal with the other goobers at Heart.

She was tired of dealing with the whinny girls who were more interested in boys then fighting, how their make-up looks then learning the best way to kill Grimm. Ruby was really annoyed how they would cry and whine to their instructors when she used their longer hair to her advantage during sparing matches. If they haven't figure out by now that long hair makes it really easy way to get leverage on them by grabbing it during combat, then they were terminally stupid. It was the main reason why she has been wearing her hair short for a few years now. She wasn't about to let anyone get an obvious advantage over her if she could help it.

That would also include their choice of combat clothing, they like frilly dresses and or complicated outfits the only emphases that they are in fact girls. It was like they, for some reason, they need to remind people that they are women. The young wanna be Huntress didn't get it, you can be a woman without being so … girly. But then again, as far as Ruby was concern, they were stupid anyways so whatever floated their boats.

She was different, unsurprisingly, in her dress as well. Ruby wore a black, one-piece body socks, with a lacy strip going down both sides, which covered everything but her hands, neck and head. She wore a bright, blood red choker around her neck, matching gloves on her hands. The only thing on her that someone could get a good grip on was her red leather belt but that took some real mad skills to grab that during fights. Even the instructors had trouble grabbing on to it at times.

She didn't even wear shoes, her body socks had thick souls with treads so she didn't slide around, much. Her aura helped protect her feet in combat, although the instructors at Heart never really seemed completely happy with her choice about the lack of shoes, still, they haven't pushed her very hard about making any changes to her wardroom.

Plus, her very unauthorized field trips in to the woods to hunt Grimm, has proven her fighting style, clothing and weapons were more than sufficient at keeping her alive. Although she did have a pair of black, ankle high, hiking boots for winter weather. Ruby's gear may not be 'sexy' but she wasn't interested in being 'sexy', she was only interested in protecting the innocent and slaughtering Grimm.

And Ruby was really, really sick of the catty attitude from the girls because the boys tended to pay more attention to her, which she didn't mind; most of the time. When it came to playing video games, sparing or just joking around, she was cool with it. It took years for the boys to take her serious and not treat her like a wussy little girl. So she enjoyed being just as crude and rude as any boy and laughing about it.

Boys only get annoying to her when one or more of them decide they wanted to practices … _those_ other activities … with her. It has been years since they were taught about the birds and bees; it's been a while now since she had entered 'that wonderful time in every young girl life' and those annoying lumps grew on her chest.

Ruby has been very thankful that they never grew very big because boys really seem to like them big and she didn't need to deal with the problems huge breast can cause. Some of the girls had problems, once they reach that age, as their boobs got in the way and suddenly they needed to re-work their fighting style to compensate for their new statues. Plus, they seem to get dumber as their boobies got bigger and most of the boys paid way too much attention to those globs of fat.

And even though she never has, never plans on ever doing anything like … _that_ … with the dorks she grew up with, for some damn reason the other girls were convince she did … quite often … and with as many dorks as possible.

Those rumors weren't nearly as amusing or as stupid, as the one where she was secretly gay. She fell over laughing when she looked up what it meant to be gay. How she could be the only girl in the school who wasn't trying to sleep with the boys, but supposedly did according to rumor, can also be gay when there weren't any girls at the school who wanted to sleep with other girls? If there were any at Heart, Ruby didn't know them, nor did she really had any desire to seek them out either.

 _Fucking_ _Idiots._

Idiots was her favorite response whenever she had to deal with either one of those rumors. After all, there more important things to do, like saving people and massacring Grimm.

She didn't need these kind of hassles, she really didn't need to date any boys or prove anything to anyone about her outside the battlefield. And, again, her trips out to the woods around Vale or that small island Patch, if she could get past the ferry crew before anyone spotted her, prove she didn't need anyone to help her hunt.

So if she got into Beacon two years early, she could get away from all that immature nonsense, all that unfocused stupidly. More importantly, it would mean she could become a full-fledged huntress in four years instead of six. It means she would be one step closer to fulling filling her quest, her purpose in life.

She didn't need friends who wasted time with meaningless nonsense. Those people were idiots. She didn't need to find the 'One' and get married someday and have children, to live 'happily ever after'; she wasn't going to waste her time trying to live a lie. Her family prove that in spades, families just get killed, stupidly.

Ruby never knew her dad, at least her mom never bothered to let anyone know who she had been fucking around with when Ruby was born. And she will never know now.

Her mom got kill by those mindless, soulless pieces of shit but it happened because she lost focus, she got stupid! She had taken the three-year-old Ruby out to visit a friend at a village on the main land, while they were there Grimm attacked the village.

Ruby still could see it if she closed her eyes, how her mother's white cape flapping in the wind holding off the Grimm as someone tried to drag Ruby into the shelter. Ruby remember kicking and screaming at the person who was trying to pick her up and calling out for her mother. She could still see clearly how her mom looked back, her silver eyes shining, her expression sad, as she blew her a kiss and then …

Ruby pulled off to the side of the road, then shut her eyes tight while taking deep breathes until she calmed down enough to resume her trip.

 _Suck it up,_ _Ruby Rose, you don't need anyone!_ She reminds herself as she pulled back out on the roadway.

She just need to get out there and save those who need help, to save the idiots of the world from themselves.

And kill every single Grimm she could find.

Once she pulled into a guest parking spot, Ruby took a moment to remove her helmet and her backpack. She had to put on her belt before she heads into the main building, which, along with her weapons, she had left in her backpack.

After removing the helmet, she ran her hand through her short naturally dark, reddish brown hair, which was more red then brown especially at the tips. Sometimes, she ran a brush through her hair after the morning shower but most of the time she let it fall naturally. She also wore no make-up or jewelry; make up was too girly for her taste and a waste of time in the morning that she could spend sleeping or training. While Ruby felt jewelry was just something else for someone to grab and rip off.

The belt was a simple red piece of leather that held six specially made belt magazines, each holding 20 rounds of .357 calibers, hollow point rounds. Ruby had couple strip rattling around in the backpack that she would load into her gauntlets before she enters the school.

There was also a couple small pack that carried her id, money and her … other … stuff. Her scroll she had built into her left gauntlet, her spare one would stay in the backpack. Before she put on the belt, she opens the pouch and remove a couple items, some of her … other … stuff, and lite up her first cigarette in days.

It was a habit she picked up when she was twelve, even after all these years, a pack of twenty would last her couple to three weeks. She only smoke when she was super stress, like today. After all, if she failed this entry exam, she would be force to return to Heart for another year. If she passed …

"Think positively, Ruby," she mumbled to herself as she took a drag and wrapped her belt around her small waist. There were no belt loops on her body sock, so the belt had to be tight and ride low on her hips but it worked.

Then she slipped on her chrome plated gauntlets, which came up about half way between her fingertips and her elbow. The barrel was actually on her wrist allowing the bullet to fly under her hand. The trigger was in the palm of her hand, it took all four fingers to squeeze the trigger and the thumb had to be extended outwards to allow the trigger to work. This prevented accidental discharge by her just making a fist or by anything hitting her palm. The dull, black, belt magazine slip around the gauntlet from underneath. A quick click and sliding the action back and then letting it slide forward, now she was ready to kick butt!

Although, she was good at hand to hand combat, it wasn't her strong suit since she always ends up hitting like a girl, and these gauntlets were not design to hit anything, just to shoot out projectiles. She could hit someone with an open palm, then shot them at the same time or use the force of the projectile leaving the barrels for a small boost to her speed but to use it directly on someone would damage the barrel, making it unusable.

Also built into each gauntlet was a foot-long blade that sat on the outside of the gauntlet. Those blades were designed to slice and cut not stab, since force of hitting a solid body was a lot more than just shooting out projectiles.

Leaning back against her bike, she let out a small cloud of smoke, enjoying a couple moments of peace before entering the building.

 _It was shaping up to be a really lovely day,_ Ruby though with a small smile, then froze with the cigarette dangling on her lips as the mistakenly sound of heels striking the cement walk way behind her reached her ears.

The stride sounded strong and confidant as it got closer, even without turning around, Ruby knew it had to be a professor. And there was only one lady who had that kind of stride here at Beacon.

"Miss Rose," Ruby turned her head and gave the lady behind her a wary smile.

"Professor Goodwitch, good morning," Ruby didn't bother trying to hid the cigarette, Professor Goodwitch was close enough to see it and probably smelled the hickory flavor smoke long before she saw it. "It is a pleasure to see you again, ma'am. How are you today?"

"I am well, thank you for asking. And yourself?"

"Just peachy actually." Ruby said grinding out the cigarette and depositing the remains in a small plastic bag for disposal later. "I'm excited about the test."

"Yes, I see." Then she looked over her glasses at the bike. "So, this is the _Screaming Rose_ , I have heard so much about?"

"Yep! This is my baby," Ruby said, grinning as she patted the seat.

"I understand congratulations are in order as well. Your headmistress had sent word along with your application that you had been able to sell several of your patents and the design for mass production of your creation."

"Yep! It's not much and it all went into a bank account but it should be enough for me not to be a charity case here at Beacon. I will be able to pay my own way."

"You have never been nor do I foresee a time in which you will be a 'charity case', Miss Rose." Professor Goodwitch's tone went quite frosty as she looked over her glasses at Ruby. "Your time at Heart and your time here, whether it be this year, two years from now or even twenty years hence, is tuition free to honor your mother's sacrifice for not only the people of Vale but to her fellow Hunters. We do provide for our own."

"Yes, I know and I don't mean to sound ungrateful. I know how lucky I am, if I had gone to a regular orphanage, I would never had made it even this far as a Huntress. So I am really blessed but still, knowing that I have that cash in the bank, to have as a backup, for an independent person as I am, as I try to be, it really does help ease my mind. Knowing no matter what, money will not keep me from attaining my dreams."

"Yes, I do believe I understand your reasoning." Goodwitch said slowly. "It is your independent streak that gives me concern. It is good to be self-sufficient, almost required in our line of work, but you must also know how to depend on others as situations dictate."

"Oh … yeah … I am like … you know … totally good with that … um … to do that … working with others … thing. Yeah. Totally."

"Yes, I see." Goodwitch's tone was natural but Ruby was really sure Goodwitch wasn't completely fooled by her less than stellar attempt at stretching the truth. With a tilt of her head, Goodwitch directed Ruby to follow her to the buildings. Slipping on her backpack, Ruby walked quickly to keep up with the taller woman. "Your academic scores and combat skills are on par, if not above, the standard for entry into Beacon. As you have been told, if you should pass the exam today; you will receive the necessary credits to graduate from your former school and receive your diploma. If you fail to pass your exam, then you are free to return with in two years, after you have either graduated from Heart Academy or any other educational institute or in the unlikely case of failing to graduate, you will be free to re-take this particular exam. This attempt will not count against your five attempt limit in any way. Do you understand, Miss Rose?"

"Yes I do," Ruby said as she skipped ahead to hold open the door for the older lady.

"Thank you. The test today is the same test all applicants who live outside the kingdom and or have not attended one of the many affiliated preparatory Hunter school found in all four Kingdoms." Goodwitch suddenly stop and spun around to look at Ruby. "However, due to your unique circumstance, you will be judge harsher than the other applicants. We expect more from you, do you understand, Miss Rose?"

"I can handle it."

"Walk down the hallway to your left, at the first turn to your right follow that hallway till you reach the first door on your left. That is where the first written exam, which last two hours, will be held. The test begins in half hour. There will be a one hour break then on to combat assessments. After combat assessments, you will receive a 20-minute question and answer interview with a 3-member panel of Professors from Beacon which could include, but not limited to, the Headmaster himself. Lunch and dinner, if require, will be provided free of charge. And if you feel the need to engage in your … particular habit … please do so outside and away from the others. Do you have any questions, Miss Rose?"

"I have no questions, Professor Goodwitch."

"Very well then," Goodwitch gave her a sharp nod and began walking away. "If you will excuse me, I have other duties to attend to, including an apology letter to your headmistress, she was quite sure you would arrive on your bike and I had assured her a future Huntress would never knowingly break the law in such manner." Ruby let her jaw drop, knowing she was screwed now. But Goodwitch went about four steps before stopping and saying over her shoulder. "Ruby. I know Summer would be very proud of you, no matter how this day ends."

"Thank you, Gyldia. I hope so." Ruby said quietly as Goodwitch walked away.

"The next phase of the test will be combat assessment."

Ruby listen to Professor Port with a half an ear as she tightens the straps on her gauntlets. Unlike that grueling written assessment, which consisted 500 true/false, multiple choices, and essay questions that she had only finished about 376 questions before time ran out, this one should be easier.

 _I better do better,_ she thought as she looked around the indoor arena. This will be combat, something she lives for, this is what she spends the most of her time doing. And she won't be humiliated by being the last person to leave the exam room, either, the only one not to finish the stupid test. Something that several other applicants had notice, that during their break those couple morons went out of their way to point it out to her. Asking her if she was ready to run home to her mommy yet?

Only the fact that she was doing her best to prove she was mature enough to attended Beacon kept them from eating her fist.

"You will have fifteen minutes, unless you leave the ring or until your aura has drop below the acceptable limit of 15%. After you have completed your assessment, we encourage you to remain in the area until all applicants have complete their assessments. It will be a learning experience, believe me. Now, are there any questions? No? Then let's began then, first applicant will be Rose, Ruby."

Letting out a silent sigh, she left her backpack by the door before entering the arena. Her steps made no noise as she walked across the floor to her opponent.

"Wow, you are a big guy, aren't you?" She said quietly as she looked up and up and up. He had to be at least a foot and half taller than herself. Maybe two feet, even! Ruby's head barely reached above his belly button area! He had a large, very sharp looking, gold plated, two handed, single blade sword that was slightly curved at the tip.

"I am Yatsuhashi Daichi," he said in a deep voice as he bowed to her. As Ruby return the courtesy, the giant went on. "There is no dishonor, child, if you decide to wait for another two years to return. Do not let your desires, your anger, to rule your heart. Simple walk out now and know that we will all be here in two years to welcome you home with open arms."

"There is no dishonor in kicking your ass either," Ruby said backing up slowly and raising her fists. She glances over at the fat professor with the bushy, white mustache who stood under a hologram of a score board with a picture of Yatsuhashi and …

"Fracking fruitcake," Ruby swore quietly as the hopefuls in the arena let out a laugh.

Her picture was a goofball picture she took last year for her school of her sticking her tongue out to the side of her mouth and her eyes cross. When they had made her re-take the photo, she had assumed they deleted that one but it appears the headmistress had other plans.

"Ready," Professor Port said over the laughter. "Fight!"

Ruby shot off two bullets, before bouncing off to the left as he used his sword to block her shots. Using her speed, she dashed in to throw a couple punches with her left blade at his side, which probably hurt her more than it hurt him. She did a kick to the back of his knee as before rolling away to avoid his sword.

Ruby let loose another four shots from her right wrist, two high and the others low, which he was able to deflect one double tap but the low shots had one deflected but the other one hit him in the leg. Letting out a grunt, Ruby ran towards him, she let loose three bullets at random before sliding under him, kicking up but he had moved before she could connect.

Moving way faster than she though a man who was that big, he reached down between his legs and grabbed her ankle and pulled her up in the air. Tossing her up in the air, then slamming her back into the ground. Before she could react, he picked her back up and tossed her away as if she was a piece of paper. She slid to a stop only inches away from the ring out line, she brought her left wrist, and the blade up, to deflect his blade as she rolled up on him again.

This time, instead of bouncing out of his range, she jumped on his back. While holding on to his collar with her left hand, she pumped several rounds into his back. She knew his aura would offer him some protection for such close range shots but it will also bring him down to the ground for a bit. If she was lucky, his aura would drop below the safety level and this fight would be done. When he drops to his knees, she leapt off, barely avoiding his large hand reaching for her, and did a backwards flip.

Ruby click opens one of her pouches, grabbing another belt of ammo while she glances up at the scoreboard.

 _Wait! Who is Fox?_ She thought as someone kicked her right hand, it exploded in pain as she rolled away and glance up to see a black skin man, with white, milky eyes, that a pair of fighting knives welded on to his gauntlets. While hers were design more for a passive defense, his appeared to be built with attack in mind.

"Wat the fuck!" Ruby screamed out as both men charged her. She didn't have time to change out the magazines, and she wasn't sure how many rounds she still had in the gauntlets. Ruby just had to get them down long enough to make more room for her to grab another magazine from her belt.

Pouring a bit more aura into her bruised right wrist, she put on a burst of speed and rejoined the fray.

After a few lifetimes of dodging, kicking and running out of ammo, Ruby was able to get enough distance from the cutlery boys to get one gauntlet reloaded when she notices they were both hanging back, a wide space between them. They were both standing at an angle … _Almost as if they …_ Ruby didn't finish the thought as she flung herself to the left, spinning in the air to see another fighter, who had been directly behind her.

The ridiculously dressed girl with, sunglasses even, had a very large Gatling gun in her hands.

"You have got to be kidding me!" Ruby yelled out as she grabbed both of her chakrams and flung them at the woman as she opened fire.

The first one missed while the second one made the sunglass fashion freak duck. By moving her arms in a tight circle, Ruby remotely guided the chakrams back to the woman, only to have both of them deflected by the boys. The giant hit one of them so hard it lodged its self into the wall while Fox boy sent the other spinning away.

Getting worn out but still determined to win, Ruby pulled out another goody from her pouches as she ran towards the fallen chakram. Fox was hot on her heals and sunglass girl was trying to hem her in when she threw the special bomb at the giant, where it latched on to his leg. Snatching the fallen chakram from the ground while doing a forward summersault, she touches a button on her right gauntlet, sending a painful but relatively harmless shock to the giant, possibly, hopefully, taking him out of the picture long enough to eliminate one or both of his teammates.

She actually wasn't sure how long he would be down; the stun bomb has never been tested on anyone that big before. It was hard enough to get 'test subjects' as it was and her field test proved that they really didn't work well on most Grimm.

Ruby heard him scream as she deflected a low blow from the Fox guy. She traded blows with him, trying to guiding him towards gun girl as her scroll beeped out a warning, her aura was dropping below 25%.

Touching the button again, not out of spite or a sadistic reason, but just to make sure he was still down, she heard him scream again. Ruby was about to execute a right side spin when something hit her from behind, hard enough to send her flying.

Her lower back scream in pain as she rolled up to her feet and saw …

"Awe, fuck you all!" Ruby yelled at the fourth warrior, a bunny fauna dressed not to dissimilar from herself, who was wielding a light staff and an evil glare. Lowering her body but keeping her eyes lock on the new comer, Ruby let out a haggard laugh, "You want to dance too? Fine, let's fucking dance!"

Using her last two rounds as a boost, and using what any energy she had left, Ruby rocketed over to the bunny girl. The girl's staff was only good if there was any distance between them, much like gun girl; so if Ruby had any hope of defeating these pricks she had to get in close.

The advantage of all Ruby's training was her ability to actually see where she is going when she was in super speed mode. Bunny girl made it really easy by standing in one place, although, Ruby could see her eyes go wide as the blur got closer. Lashing out with her legs, Ruby knocked the girl on her back as she spun around to face the others coming at her.

Ruby had enough time to load her last two magazines before the bunny girl came to her senses. Tossing her last chakram, Ruby dodged to the right as the bunny girl swung her long staff at her. As Ruby had guessed, the staff was far too long for as close as Ruby was to the other girl. Ruby gave her a kick, using the girl as a improve barrier to keep gun girl from shooting her. Then the bunny girl did something that totally blew Ruby away, she did something that Ruby didn't understand, bunny girl spun around and lost her light staff and swung … two light short swords!

Suddenly, Ruby was on the defensive once again. Using her gauntlets, Ruby was desperately trying to dodge, kick or do something to get away from the now overly aggressive bunny. Bullets kissing the ground behind her, Ruby risk a glance to the left of the bunny's head … that one moment of inattention cost Ruby the match.

The Bunny kicked her in the gut, zapping almost all of Ruby's remaining aura. Landing hard on her back, her scroll beeped loudly as the bunny girl, her face set in a hard, neutral stare, pin Rudy to the ground, her twin blades crossed only inches from her neck. For a long moment, both girls engaged in a stare off before the bunny girl tip her a wink and backed off from the battle.

Ruby sat up as the other girl hurried over to her teammates while the fat professor called the match. Ruby had been eliminated by the 15% rule. Ruby looked up at the score board, just in time to see it wink out but she though she saw that she had made it to less than a minute left before she would have won.


	2. Chapter 2

To say Ruby Rose was annoyed with the antics occurring around her today is to not understand Ruby Rose at all.

Ruby was not annoyed at all.

She was absolutely pissed!

All afternoon, she sat in the arena and watch the hundred or so other candidates going through their combat assessments. Some of them were pretty good, like that pink hair girl with the big hammer smacking the hell out of anyone within range as well as that girl with the black bow in her hair, she had some seriously good moves as well. Some of the others, however, were hopeless, more of a danger to themselves and anyone around them, then to the Grimm. Still, as informative and, at time highly entertaining, the afternoon had been; it pissed her off that none of them ever faced more than one opponent in their bouts.

None of them had to deal with four people trying their very best to eliminate her from the school. On one hand, she knew that she should be honored that they knew she could handle anything that they threw at her. Handle it like a boss that she is and coming within a hair of winning as well. On the other hand, a larger part of her is just pissed that someone was trying so hard to make her fail.

 _Just like that bullshit test!_

Ruby had spent some time in between bouts talking to some of the other hopefuls about the written test. Each and every one of them said that the 300 question, with only four essay and mostly true or false questions, was bit more difficult than they had anticipated. But they all felt that the test was not so difficult that they felt overwhelmed.

 _300 question? 300 questions! Hell's bells, I answered more than most of them even tried to answer!_

"Miss Rose?" A man, one of the older students, said as he walked up to her as she sat in the now empty cafeteria as twilight began settling in. All of the other hopefuls had already left, their process now completed.

 _No doubt playing messenger to get some kind of extra credit to cover up his piss poor grades_ , Ruby thought unkindly as she sat there glaring at him. _Or maybe he was just an apple polisher._

God knows Ruby had to deal with their likes at Heart. She supposed it was too much to hope she wouldn't have to deal with any of their kind here at Beacon. However, like cockroaches and Grimm, they do multiply at alarming rates and did nothing productive for society. Then again, she shouldn't be so hard on cockroaches or Grimm.

When she didn't verbally answer him, opting to remain silent while staring at him sourly, with her arms crossed, he let out a small cough and said, in a not so nicely tone, "Please follow me to your interview."

Letting a sigh stay silent, she slung her backpack on her back and hurried to catch up to the older, taller boy, whom, she figured, was using his longer strides to get a bit of petty revenge on her.

"The Interview is done remotely," he said without looking back to see if she was keeping up. "The normal amount of time is 20 minutes, although some have been known to take a half hour or more depending on needs of each candidates. Please refrain from speaking unless asked a question by one of the interviewers. After this Interview, you will be informed if you have passed the requirements to enter Beacon Academy." After he stopped in front of an ordinary looking door, he turned to look down at her with an expression of distaste on his face. "Or you can turn around and leave now, if you wish. No one would stop you from leaving. This is Beacon Academy, you know, not everyone who tries to get in, does so."

"This is the right room?"

"I'm not joking, orphan." The walking dead man said putting his hand on the door. As if he could actually have any chance of stopping her from entering. "Your kind is not welcome here; we have only the best men and women here, the right kind of people, you understand, in this school." He steps closer to her, as if he though he could intimidate her. "Do you understand what I am saying or perhaps you require me to speak slower, sewer trash?"

She gave him a smile that only a blind, feeble minded boy would mistake for friendly as she reached past him to open the door herself. Ruby then, roughly, pushed the brown nose loser out of her way to enter the semi-dark room.

The room's only light source was a small table lamp sitting on the desk in the center of the room. Besides the desk, there was a chair and three large monitors, all dark, hanging on the wall opposite of the desk. Slipping her backpack on the back of the chair, Ruby sat down and waited for something to happen.

And waited.

And waited so more.

Patience was not one of Ruby's stronger points.

In fact, it wasn't even one of her lesser enduring traits.

She knew what patience was … she had to look up and recite the definition enough time over the years as punishment for committing one offense or another ever since she could read.

But like two ships passing each other in the dark night, and on two separate oceans, she has never really met it in person. No matter how much her teachers back at Heart tried to introduce her to the concept.

So it was probably no surprise to anyone with even a passing bit of knowledge about her, that when the screens finally came alive, Ruby was hanging upside down from the back of the chair that she had placed on top of the table, humming a song that was clearly one which had lyrics that no child should be able to recite by heart.

She stared blankly at the image of Professor Goodwitch on her right, some other professor, whom was very thin and wore glasses on her left and she couldn't make out the person in the center screen, it was too dark for her to get a good look.

"I think my point has been made," the glass wearing man said with a sigh. "She demonstrates it well enough on her own; she has no discipline."

"Leave in a dark room for God knows how long, you are, and let's see what you do." Ruby said as she tried to wrestle herself up but ended up crashing, with the chair, on to the floor. "Fuck!"

"She is immature," Goodwitch said evenly. "A thrill seeker, with no regards for those around her."

"With her; it is first, last and only about herself." The glasses wear said while sipping on a cup of something.

"She is violent; lashing out at others for perceived grave offences, often using physical violence to solve disputes with her peers."

"Like none of them fuckers deserve being thrashed," Ruby said defensively as she sat the chair upright.

"She is crude, often using terms that make her sound like a drunken sailor on a three-day liberty."

"That is a bunch of fucking bullshit!"

"She has no close relationships with her peers at Heart Academy." The skinny man said, ignoring her outburst. "Although, she is willing to engage others for the reason of entertainment, either by playing violent fighting games or attending movies that are clearly unsuited for children her age."

"Well, excuse me if I don't enjoy movies where rainbows shoot out of ponies rear ends." Ruby answered with a sarcastic toss of her head and prostrating herself on top of the desk. "I try, I try so hard, forgive this poor retch of a girl but friendship, it's just not magical enough for me."

"She willfully, and unapologetically, violates rules and laws that have been set down to insure everyone's safety …"

"Oh come on, give me one recent example! Just one!"

"As she has recently demonstrated this morning by arriving on her hover bike …"

"Err … besides …"

"She has accumulated more demerits and punishment details than any other single candidate we have ever assess since team STRQ, and may I remind you, that was the entire team and not just one person. Demerits for unacceptable conduct such as often sneaking away from Heart Academy to engage in unauthorized and unsupervised trips into the wilderness to hunt Grimm."

"Yeah, well, I'm supposed to be a Huntress …"

"Placing those who search for her in unacceptable danger," Goodwitch snapped.

"As well as with her continuous experimentations into explosive devices." The man said adjusting his glasses. "Her latest attempt caused extensive damage to one of Heart's chemistry labs."

"Yeah, and take one guess who had to rebuild that lab?"

"She is dangerous."

"You bet your ass I am!"

"She is wild."

"The hell I am!"

"She is a hazard to those around her and herself."

"Only to those ass hats who have it coming to them!"

"She belongs in jail," the glass wearing man said sharply.

"Well, fuck you and the horse you rode in on, buddy." Ruby snapped back, on the verge of tears she refuse to show. Picking up her bag off the ground, she went on to say, "You could have save us both sometime, you know, if you've just told me 'no go away' when I fucking applied! Instead of going through this fucking dog and pony show! Shit! Guess I won't waste anymore of your 'precious' time, fucking fruitcake! No, please, don't get up on my account, I'll just see myself …"

"However," the soft whisper of a voice said from beneath the middle screen. Ruby froze in place as Headmaster Ozpin came out from the shadows to stand in front of her.

As was the first time, as was every time, she meets with Professor Ozpin, all defiance and rebellion leaves her body and mind faster than she could ever hope to run. There was something about that friendly, older man with white hair that just seems to demand instant respect from not only her but everyone who comes in connect with him.

Without much conscious thought, Ruby dropped her bag back on the floor, sat the chair up properly and sat back down without a word being uttered by her or anyone else. Headmaster Ozpin favored her with a smile as he pulled a stool from behind the curtains and sat down facing her, his ever present cane and coffee cup in hand.

"Ruby Rose is incredibly gifted," the glass wearing man said after a lengthy pause, his tone going softer as well. "The test I gave her was design to make her fail and yet; one of the question she answered about the ancient kingdoms was not only correct but she could have only known the correct answer if she remembered reading about it in a book that records show she checked out over two years ago. She even cited that book in her answer. She either has a higher intelligent then our tests are equipped to discover or she has a recorded memory. Even now, I am unsure which one is true, since I design the test so she could only, possibly, finish 20% within the time limit. Still, Ruby was able to complete over 50% of the questions and only making one mistake."

"Which one did I get wrong," Ruby demanded before getting a pointed look from Professor Ozpin. She immediately snapped her mouth close, letting her look say how sorry she was for the interruption.

"Many of her recent demerits for fighting with her peers was based on her desire to protect younger, smaller classmates being bullied by boys and girls, who were not only older but larger, psychically, then herself." Professor Goodwitch said with a small smile. "She is more than willing to put her own safety behind the needs of those who are in need of protection. There is even a case, one that Miss Rose has refuse any recognition for I may add, in which she saved another student from adduction by the hands of a known offender. And while she knows the consequences of her action, she has never denied her involvement in whatever infraction is presented to her; well as long as you have evidence of her actions. She is not going to admit to something that cannot be proven."

"Her mechanical skills are impressive as well, the stun device she attached to Mr. Daichi was brilliant. Not only did it puncture his skin to insure he couldn't remove it easily but was also able to infect two blast of energy, enough energy to incapacitate him for several seconds. Her dual purpose gauntlets, which are perfectly suited for her type of fighting style, her bombs, her chakram, her bike; all hand made with little or no assistance from others. She would be a very valuable addition to any team."

"Team CFVY, while still only beginning their second year as students here at Beacon, they are the best team we have field in years. Yet, Miss Rose was not only able to hold her own against them but disable Mr. Daichi. It is quite possible that if we had not been manipulating the timer, she would have out-right won the match in a tournament."

"Wait, wait," Ruby held up her hands. "Are you both admitting you set me up to fail?"

"Yes, that is exactly we are saying," Headmaster Ozpin said with a grin. "And yet, despite our best efforts, here you sit, Miss Rose. You passed." Ozpin looked to his left and right as Ruby sat there, mouth open and speechless. "The real question is still left unanswered. Should Ruby Rose be allowed to enter Beacon Academy in the next class?" Neither Professor Goodwitch nor the unidentified man said anything, they just let their screens darken till they disappeared. "I concur."

"So … um sir … am I in or …" Ruby ask in a small voice.

"That depends on you, Miss Rose, do you wish to attend my school?"

"Yes! Very much so, sir!" Then Ruby paused and asked, "Do you want me here? Because, well, it sounds like you guys set me up to fail to keep me out."

"We did set you up to fail, Miss Rose, but not to keep you out. If I didn't feel you were capable of attending this academy, that your skills were below my standards, then you wouldn't attend; regardless of whose daughter you are. Being Summer Rose's daughter carries no weight in this institution's decision about your enrollment. Your success or failure is all in your hands, Miss Rose. It is as simple as that."

"Then why?" She started to ask but was cut off by the professor.

"No, Miss Rose, we set you up to fail to see how badly you desire to attend. You were perceptive enough to know something was off, that something was not right, even while taking the test, did you not? Yet, no words of complaint were heard. You sat through four hours of watching many hopefuls battle it out in the arena, yet only you were faced with multiple opponents. Did you cry foul? Did you demand another chance to prove yourself? No."

"Instead, you held your head high, knowing yourself, and not caring what others though, that you did your absolute best you could have done. And you were content with that knowledge. That is something that many with far more years behind them then you have been alive can still not comprehend."

Rose saw a small but somehow sad smile on Ozpin's face as he went on. "In fact; I can tell you by dawn's early light tomorrow, I will receive at least five request to re-evaluate a candidate dismissal for a host of reasons. I will review them, of course, but they will still be denied." He leaned forward, giving Ruby a small wink. "I'll let you in on a little secret, Miss Rose; no one enters this academy without my personal approval nor is anyone denied entry without my personal approval. I have study each and every candidate's application before the letters are sent out; even those who come from our affiliate academies such as Heart or Signal over on the island of Patch."

"Those who competed here today all had the require skills or at least had skills we could work with, but I wanted to see them, to know if I was correct or incorrect when I reviewed their files. And not to sound boastful, however, I will let you know as long as I have been headmaster, I have not been wrong yet. Those who moved on today, did so because they had not only the skill but the heart to be a good Hunter or Huntress. Which has nothing to do with why you're being allow here today Ruby."

"Uh?"

"You are at a crossroads I believe, Miss Rose, where your anger and skills could lead you down the path of righteousness or ruin. Where you could do great good for not only the people of Vale but for all of Remnant, or be the worst scourge ever to walk on this world."

"I-I-I … I don't understand …"

"Tell me, Miss Rose; how many time had you thought, even for a moment, to forget about Beacon, forget about Heart, and just jump on your _Screaming Rose_ and just head out to the wilderness? To find those in need and do what hunters do?"

"Today? It … well, it has crossed my mind a few-yeah, just a few times."

Ozpin gave her another small, bitter sweet smile. "I am sure you have; it wouldn't surprise anyone if you had done just that instead of waiting for your interview." Then his smile slip away as he stared through her, as if seeing something he didn't want to imagine. "But if you had, then I can be very sure the next time we met, it would not have been pleasant for either of us. Your anger would have twisted you eventually, make you become what you hate, what you fear. Yes, I fear our next meeting would have been … unpleasant … for all involved."

"I don't understand? You keep saying 'my anger' is going to destroy me? What is wrong with how I feel? Are you saying I don't have the right to be pissed about how shitty my life is? How my mom … how my …"

"I would never council you on how you should or should not feel about your mother's death. And I fear it is too late to purge the hate you feel towards her …"

"I DON'T HATE MY MOTHER!" Ruby suddenly yelled out, knocking the chair back. "I hate those god damn fucking Grimm who fucking killed her! And I will have you know, that personally speaking, I think I have every right to feel angry!"

Ruby stood there, in the dark room, trying to stare down the headmaster of the academy, and losing. He never said a word but patiently waited for her to pick up her chair and sit back down. As she sat back down, she did something uncharacteristically for her, anyways, by meekly apologized for the outburst.

"I would never council you on how you should or should not feel about your mother's death. And I fear it is too late to purge the hate you feel towards her for leaving you or the hate you hold in your heart towards the Grimm."

Ruby kept her eyes down and gritted her teeth to keep from letting out another burst of anger. _It's stupid! I don't hate my mother, I love her! He is just being an ass_ , she kept reminding herself as he went on.

"Nor could attending Beacon cure you of your hate; that is something only you can do yourself, Miss Rose. However, I believe that being here at Beacon can give you, at least if you allow it, the tools you need to channel your anger into a more productive means that benefit not only yourself but society as a whole. To allow you to control your anger, at least and having a fighting chance to avoid becoming your greatest fear."

"What? You're not going to claim to 'cure me', like everyone else has?"

"As I have said, only you can cure yourself, if you so desire and have the strength to accomplish such a lofty goal. No doubt your teammates will have their own ideas …"

"Wait? About that whole teammate thing …"

"Sorry Miss Rose, but being on a team is required to complete your studies. Now, now; it won't be as bad as you think."

"Heh, I have heard that story a few times." Ruby said, running her fingers through her hair. "So you think they will be able to help me how?"

"How? Why I have no idea, Miss Rose. Every student who comes to Beacon have different needs, have different paths to take on their way to becoming a Huntress. All I can advise you is to have an open mind, to learn to let someone in and see what occurs and what doesn't. But let me ask you this? Is being alone really worth it? Is it really working for you?"

"Well," Ruby started to give him a sarcastic reply but it died as she looked up at his kind eyes. Taking a breath while looking away, she said instead, "It's safer, you know."

"A huntress taking the safe way?" Ruby shrugged her shoulders as she could hear his smile in his voice. "Well, here is your chance at being a bit more daring, Miss Rose." As he stood up, he went on to say, "We will store your bike here; it will be safer than allowing you to ride it back to Heart. Have no fear, once you have your license, you will be able to ride it again."

"Thank you." Ruby said with heart.

"I will have a cab come and give you a ride back to Heart. Classes start in 7 days, Miss Rose, and I expect to see you back here to start your initiation on that appointed day."

"Yeah, yeah count on it, Professor Ozpin. I'm not passing up this for all the Dust in the world. Especially after all that shit you guys put me through." Ozpin gave her a smile and started to walk away when something occurred to Ruby. "Um, Professor? You said that my 'anger and fear' would change me for the worst, make me a monster? Okay, maybe my anger gets the better of me, sometimes, maybe, but what fear? I mean, what fear do I have that could destroy me?"

Headmaster Ozpin stopped just before the shadows swallowed him, without him turning around it suddenly felt as if the temperature dropped 100 degrees to Ruby as he replied. "I am afraid that is something that I must allow you to find out on your own, Ruby. For that is an answer that can only be learned by one seeking out the knowledge."


	3. Chapter 3

"Here you go," Ruby handed the cabbie what she hoped was an acceptable amount of the liens for not only the ride but tip as well, as he unloaded her last bag from his car. By his smile, she thought that she got it right. _Or he is too professional to let what he really thought show on his face._ Ruby would have bet on the second option.

The money she had came from a special account that had been set up by Headmistress Albright for Ruby to have a few extra liens for initial expenses not cover by 'Fallen Hunter' fund. Most of the kids back at Heart would think it was a lot of money, but Ruby knew it wouldn't last long. After all, now that she was considered an adult, legally, she had many new expenses that she never had before.

The 'Fallen Hunter' funds were covering tuition, books, uniforms, room, as well as the three main meals she will be eating on campus. Other items, such as toiletries, tights (Ruby will be damn if was going to be force to wear a skirt without tights), extra body socks, ammo and any other personal items she might need; all of those expenses was now coming out of her own pocket. And even with the small trust fund and the money she was collecting on the sale of her patens, those expenses were going to eat her alive if she wasn't careful.

Especially the ammo, she goes through a lot of Dust practicing her marksmanship as well as for her explosive devices since some of her bombs required a higher grade Dust then her ammo. Heart Academy had paid for all her ammo before as well as her Dust. And Ruby had learned at an early age how to make re-loads, where one took empty casings, added in the correct amount of grains as well as the lead projectile to recycle the casings, that was really only good enough for target practices. Quality control, even for her, was not on par with factory fresh ammo, and the last thing you want while staring down a Grimm is to have a misfire.

For field work, she wanted factory fresh ammo and lots of it. Ruby choose .357 not only for its stopping power but for the ease of finding ammo. Sure, some of the cool kids with sickening, rich parents had really cool, non-standard ammo that did some wicked stuff but why mess with the classics. The whole point was to kill whatever you were shooting at as quickly as possible so you can move on to the next corpse waiting in line. And Ruby was convince if she keeps telling herself that line, that she didn't need any of that cool ammo, eventually she will believe it.

Maybe.

Ruby looked around the crowded cul-de-sac, filled with kids and their parents, some sounding joyful and proud, most screeching and crying so much Ruby want to go slap them to get them to shut up. And slap their offspring who was blubbering just as badly.

 _For God sakes, they're just going to Beacon; not to the other side of the freaking planet._ Ruby though as she looked around for a cart to haul her two sea bags up to the main hall.

Of course, she couldn't find one not being used. Some of the students looked as if they pack their entire household by the number of bags they had. So with a grunt, she threw her red/black checker backpack on her back and grabbed the two other bags with her hands and started trudging up the main promenade.

" _Good thing I don't have all that much to carry,_ she though.

It had taken her a couple days to root through all her junk that she has collected over the years. Most of it; the movie posters, Guns and Weapons magazines, her drawings, sketches and other stuff got tossed. She kept a couple books, those that really entertained her or was hard to find, and donated the rest to the library. Her tool box had been shipped ahead, it was too big for her to carry or fit in a cab. They had assured her that she could have a small space set aside for her in the motor pool for her to maintain her bike and practice her bomb making skills. Which was good, since there was nothing she loved more on a raining day but build and upgrade her weapons.

"Look baby, I know what you heard but you haft to believe me … you know you are the only girl for me."

Ruby look over to her right, to see the ass hat from last week, who dare to call her a sewer trash, was on his scroll talking to some girl, whom, by the ease that Ruby could hear her, was highly agitated at him. She paused for a moment to listen in as the girl on the scroll accused him, his name was apparently Randy, of cheating on her … again.

And recently.

"Baby, those other girls never meant anything to me; you know you are the only one for me. Besides, I promise you, I haven't even looked at another girl since that last one. Trust me baby, I learned my lesson last year. I love you and only you."

Ruby let a small, well, some might call it an evil smile form on her lips as she walked a bit further down the walkway before dumping her sea bags off to the side. She didn't know what great deed she has done lately to deserve this opportunity but whatever it had been must have been a whopper. And if it wasn't a reward for her being good; well then, who was she to deny karma a bit of entertainment.

She waited till he had his back to her, before she ran up to him and jumping on his back. With her arms wrapped around his neck and her legs around his waist, and in full view of the scroll's camera, she began pelting him with quick kisses, all over his face. Avoiding the lips, of course, there are just some places she refuse to touch, even for revenge. Plus, who knew what kind of shots she would have to get later if those lips touch hers.

" _Randy? Who the hell is that!"_

"I don't know … I've never seen … get off me, you freaking wack … RUBY! What the …"

" _Ruby? Who is Ruby? I though you didn't know who was on your back?"_

"Oh Randy, my dandy piece of candy, I found the perfect spot to do it and I need you, again, right …" Ruby stop, giving the world a faked looking confused expression as she stared at the blond on the screen. "Why are you talking her!"

" _I said, who the hell is Ruby! Answer me, Randall!"_

"No one …"

"Randy how could you say that! No one? You jerk! You didn't say I was no one last night or for the past few weeks!" Ruby screeched as she hung on tight, not allowing him to get her off his back. "And you said I was the best you ever had! You screamed out my name!"

" _If she is no one, then how do you know her name!"_

"Ginger, listen to me …"

"Ginger? Ginger! You told me you were done with that fat cow!"

" _Excuse me!"_

In a harsh whisper, just loud enough for the other girl to hear, Ruby said. "You said I was the only one for you! You lying jerk! I even did that disgusting thing with another girl so you could watch! You promised me if I did it with my sister, you would leave her! That was last week … and we did it … just like you demanded … twice!"

" _Randy! Again! Ugg! You know what, I have had it with you, you're just a sick bastard. Girl, you can have him!"_

"Wait! Ginger, don't hang up! I can explain!" He screamed into the now dark scroll while Ruby slid off his back. After a couple seconds of silence, he turned on her with murder in his eyes. "You little bitch."

"I'm sorry," Ruby said in a flat tone, while turning around to walk away. "Guess you just never know what a piece of sewer trash will do."

"Do you know how much work I put into that relationship? How rich she is? If I could had gotten her married, I would've been on easy street, you little whore! Do you have any clue about anything?"

"Wrong question, but then again, can't say I have a high expectation of your intellect. The right question should be 'Do you even care you stop me from scamming some nice girl'? Or ask me, 'Does it make you feel good knowing you just help a girl get rid of a piece of shit like me?' And in all seriously, I would have to say … 'Yep!'"

"You … you … I ought to put you in your place, sewer trash."

"Try it." Again, Ruby gave him what she would call 'a happy smile' while others would say 'it was pure evil' would be closer to the truth as she stopped to look over her shoulder at him.

"It would be my pleasure," he said as he slowly looked around the growing knot of people around them.

She watched with amusement as he made the same calculation she had, although, he did it like four times slower then molasses. She could even see that dim bulb lighting up as he finally finished the math, no matter what he does, it can only end very badly for him. Get in a brawl with her, they both lose, only he will lose worst because most of the people around her will initially jump to her support. Without trying she could hear some of the mothers in the crowd speaking up for her. And Ozpin would, she hoped, look unkindly to anyone brawling on the first day, especially someone in their fourth year. She might get off with a verbal warning, he might get away just losing his cushy job, if he was lucky.

Then he surprised her as he stood up straight, with a grin close to her own, he went on to say, "But not as much as watching you get thrown out of here on your butt. I know who you are Ruby Rose, I have seen your record, heard the whispers; soon or later you will step out of line. And when you do, I'll be there to hold the door open for you."

"Good," she said still smiling as he stiffly passed her, heading to the main hall. "I'm sure after four years of being a doorman, when I do graduate, you might be able to do it without fucking it up." She gave it a heartbeat, then mumbled to herself, "Damn! Lame comeback much Ruby, so lame."

Shaking her head, she started back to her bags when a voice behind her said, "'How to win friends and gain influence in 50 years or more' by Ruby Rose." Ruby looked over her shoulder to see a tall blond dressed in short black shorts, leather half jacket and yellow top that barely contained her 'assets' and a cocky grin that drove Ruby nuts; the daughter of Ruby's mom's old friend, Yang Xiao Long. "I keep telling you kid; you will make millions selling your advice."

"Yo, Yang," Ruby said, trying hard to not to grin while exchanging high fives. "What's the word?"

"The word? I don't know," Yang said glancing down at the two green sea bags. "Are you running away from home again?"

"How does one run away from 'home' when one does not have a home in which to run from?"

"Heart Academy is home," Yang said with her grin never faltering. "And since you don't like it there, and you being a moody teenager that you are, that just proves it is home since no kid like their home."

"So says the girl who goes home every night, to sleep in the same bed, in the same room she always had instead of getting the joy of a new room and roommate every semester."

"Please, you haven't had a roommate in two years. Not since you stuck that last one's bed in a tree."

"Hey now! I had nothing to do with that," Ruby gave her such an exaggerated innocent look it had to be fake. "I was shocked, shocked I say, when I woke up hearing her screaming bloody murder outside our window. I have no idea how she got up there … or how those eight packets of 'gravity' dust, two to each leg of her bed for stability, got on her bed's legs or even how they were activated, by using a remote started found in any hobby store. And how would I know that someone use some kind of remote, a Frisker t-089 drone motor, to guild the bed out the window and into the tree." Ruby gave her a bright smile and a short pause, "I still say she has a problem with sleepwalking."

"Yeah, right. Sleepwalking." Yang let out a laugh as Ruby sat down on her bags, to open up her backpack. Sitting down next to her, Yang asked, "So what is the story, Ruby? Why are you here and not back home? I know you didn't come way over here to this side of town just to wish me luck."

"Of course I would," Ruby said looking shocked before she went back to digging through her bag. "You're like the big sister I never wanted. You hardly call, always forget my birthday, never visit anymore …"

"You know I am not allowed any more unsupervised visit after that last incident." Yang said grin, waving away Ruby's comments. "My dad, Mrs. Albright, everyone always over react when we try to have a bit of fun on our own."

"Truth!"

"So how long did it take you to fix that chemistry lab anyways?"

"Six months," Ruby grinned as she pulled out her spare scroll. "Learned a lot about dry walling. Anyways, here, read and weep, Miss Xiao Long." Ruby dug back into her bag, she though she saw her lighter floating around in there … somewhere. It drove her teachers nuts on how disorganized she can be at times and others times; she knew just by looking at her tools that someone had touch them.

"Oh my God," Yang whispered out as Rub y found her lighter. "Do you know what this says?"

"Not a clue," Ruby answered looking for her pack of cigarettes. She had three quarters of a pack left, plenty to last her until she was able to get back to that one store that would sell them to her. It was stupid, she was old enough to get into Beacon, yet still too young to buy her smokes. With a small burst of joy, she found her pack. "You know, reading is so hard!" Suddenly, she was being suffocated by a pair of yellow clad bobbies. "Yang!'

"You did it! I can't believe it! You always said you would do it. Oh, I am so proud of you!" Suddenly as it started, Yang pushed her away allowing Ruby to get a big breath of sweet, sweet air. "Why didn't you tell me when I called you on your birthday?" Then it was back to seeing nothing but yellow as Yang hugged her again. "Oh this is so great! We're going to have so much fun together!" Then Yang let her go as she grabbed her own scroll. "I got to tell dad about this!"

"Sure, sure no problem; just, you know, keep those things away from me." Ruby said picking up her pack and lighter that she had dropped when Miss Twin Peeks assaulted her. After she lit on, Yang tapped her on the shoulder, asking to bum one. "Since when did you start smoking?" Ruby asked handing over the pack.

"Just give me your lighter too."

"You want me to jump up and down on your chest to help you get started, well provided anyone could climb that high."

"Your just jealous… Dad? Hey dad, guess … Dad, seriously? Dad, I just got here two hours ago, nothing bad has happened yet." Ruby looked around the promenade at the various students walked past them, heading to the main build. She felt a tap on her shoulder, "Here … dad, stop worrying, I will be fine … will you listen …" without looking Ruby reached back to grab the pack and …

"You asshat!" Ruby yelled out as she dropped her now flaming pack of cigarettes on the ground.

"I told you to stop smoking … anyways dad, guess who is here at Beacon with me?"

"That's my only pack!"

"No dad, … dad …I know you have a class to teach but …"

"There is only one store that will sell to me and it is on the other side of town!"

"Dad, Ruby Rose is here …yeah Ruby … no, dad she is not running away from home again …"

"She is, however, going to commit murder!"

"You will thank me one day. Dad? No, I am serious, she got into Beacon Academy! …Dad? Oh come on dad, she is fifteen, you know."

Ruby watched Yang roll her eyes while she wondered where she could hide the body. _Hell, her boobs probably weight as much as I do._ Ruby thought darkly as Yang suddenly pushed her scroll at Ruby while snagging her half smoke, and last cigarette, from her hands. With horror, Ruby watch her crush the smoke in her bare hand. "You fucking twit!"

"Here, dad wants to talk to you."

"You are fucking twit." Ruby then held up the scroll and said, "Hey Mr. Xiao Long, did you know your daughter is a fucking twit?"

" _Ruby, langue! And hello to you too. So Yang is telling me the truth? You got admitted into Beacon early?"_

"Yep! I took the test last week, passed with flying colors, give them the old Ruby Rose razzle dazzle treatment and my bribe … err, I meant, my campaign contribution, check cleared, so BAM! Here I is."

" _Does Ozpin … no, scratch that … of course he knows."_ Ruby heard him sigh as he went on. _"Are you sure you want to do this now? I mean, do you think you are ready for Beacon?"_

"Didn't you know that you were ready to attend Beacon back in the day?"

" _I thought so, but I was also older then you. I know it might not seem like it but there is a big difference between fifteen and seventeen. Almost as big of a difference between seventeen and twenty-one. Your entire life changes so much in a short amount of time; what you thought you wanted no longer matters and what you thought would never matter, suddenly does in ways you can't believe. I mean when I first met Yang's mom when I was seventeen and someone told me I would be raising a beautiful and headstrong daughter to be what she is today, well I would have called them crazy but sometimes the best things in life are things you never expected."_

"Awe, dad," Yang said blushing.

" _And if I would have told your mom, Ruby, that one day her beautiful little girl, who was always gorging herself on strawberries, would end up being smarter, stronger and even more headstrong girl who outshined all of her peers, well she would say … Of course!"_ There was a long pause before he went on to say, _"I just hope that you understand what you are getting into, you know you will always have a place in Beacon, no matter when."_

"I understand what you are saying, Mr. Xiao Long … it's just … I need to do this, you know. I'm ready for the next level."

" _Okay. Besides, it's not like I could ever talk a Rose out of anything anyways. Just … Yang, promise me you be there for her if she needs you, no matter how much she tries to deny she needs you, understand?"_

"I'll be fine …"

"Hush Ruby, I'll be there dad, count on it."

"Guys, I am …"

" _Ruby, you need anything at all, and I mean anything, even if it is a shoulder to cry on at 4 in the morning, I am only a call away, understand?"_

"Guys, thanks, really, but I will be fine …"

" _Ruby, promise me."_

"I said I will be fine …"

" _Ruby!"_

"You're not my dad, you know!" She snapped, think this conversation was getting really annoying really fast.

" _No, I'm not but I am family and family …"_

"I don't have a fucking family, remember! My family is fucking dead!"

" _All Hunters and Huntress are family, Ruby, and we take care of our own. This isn't going to be like Heart Academy, this is as close to the real world as you are going to get and have any kind of support. I can … I will be there for you if you need a bit of extra support and not because your mom was my friend, one of my best friends, but because you are a Huntress. Understand? You don't have to do it alone, Ruby."_

"Sure, fine, whatever." She said to get him to shut up. He didn't get it, no one ever gets it; she is alone, she will always be alone and words don't change a thing.

" _Ruby!"_

"What do you want from me? Sign a pack in blood?"

" _I want you to say it like you mean it."_

"Okay, look; if I get in over my head … I'll let Yang put your number on my speed dial … okay?"

" _I guess that is the best I can hope for, Ruby."_

"Okay, got to run, Mr. Xiao Long, talk to you later." Ruby pushed the scroll back over to Yang as the father and daughter said their goodbyes, wishing it was that easy but knowing the truth. She will always be alone, it was safer that way.


	4. Chapter 4

Ruby ripped her locker open with a huge grin.

 _Yes! Yes, finally! It's been too long, my lovelies!_ Ruby though as she adjusted her body sock slightly. Ruby was still a bit damp after her morning shower and the stupid material of her sock was always getting stuck where she doesn't want it to or slipping around in ways she really, really doesn't like. Especially up top, around her alleged breast. But she was in too good of a mood to let her body sock annoy her today.

She was in such a great mood, she even decided to wear the lighter shade of red sock, with the sheer outline on the sides, that had a small white triangle that stretched from her shoulders down to her bellybutton.

"Hi-ho-hi-ho, off to the woods we go," she sang softly as she smoothed out her sock.

She had to sing softly, just about the only thing everyone ever agreed on was how Ruby was a girl of many talents but carrying a tune was not one of them. Normally, she wouldn't even try singing in public, not even the shower was safe enough for her to attempt a song but today was just too magical not to sing!

Today was 'Get to kill Grimm all day' day, as she was going to call it, where her and the other students gets to run around Emerald Forest, to pass some kind of initiation into the school or something. _Probably have to learn some kind of secret handshake too or else something equally as lame_ , she though while she hummed happily to herself.

Why mattered not, Ruby really didn't care what they were supposed to do out there, the point is, if rumor was to be believe, while in the forest, they are allowed to kill any Grimm that they just 'happen' to come across.

 _All morning dedicated to slaughtering Grimm, who wouldn't be bouncing around with joy?_

"I know I left my stuff in locker 636 last night," a blond boy said nervously as he passed Ruby, for the fourth time in the last five minutes. "Why does this always happen to me?"

Ruby stop for a second to watch him helplessly walk around the co-ed locker room before shrugging and resuming her task of getting ready.

"You sure are chipper this morning," Yang said to Ruby as she stepped out of the ladies changing room. "And wow, you do own something pink."

"Oy prefer to think of it as a shade of light red, and they though it would look cute," Ruby lied, while she sat down on the floor to pull on her gauntlets. It wasn't as if she was willing to admit to anyone that she actually bought anything close to this shade on her own. "It is a gift from the gang back at Heart, sort of a going away gift."

"Aw! That is so sweet, did they give you a going away party as well?"

"They said they did, but they didn't tell me about until I was leaving, because they figure they would have more fun if I wasn't there for it."

"You know," Yang said after a pause, "sometimes it is hard to tell when you are joking …"

"So," Ruby said cutting her off. "According to rumors, we will be choosing our partners today. So I was thinking, you know, since we actually, kind of, mostly, get along and all. I mean, it is not like I have tried to kill you yet or whatever … well, no more than once or twice, but who is counting, so maybe we could be partners."

"Yeah, about that" Ruby's head shot up to see Yang, playing with her hair as she went on. "I was thinking that maybe you'll want to try …"

"Don't you dare say it."

"Ruby, you really should try to make new friends."

Ruby scrambled to her feet, shooting hate rays at Yang. "You really are an ass hat, you know that!"

"Calm down for a minute Ruby …"

"I don't need to make 'friends', you dick. What I need is for my almost tolerated acquaintance to be by my side, so I can try to get through the next four years without committing 1st degree murder."

"Like you would get caught …"

"Of course I wouldn't get caught but that is beside the point!" She informed Yang as she snapped her belt on and reached for two of her chakrams. "The point is; us working together, as a team, could make dealing with this place easier to deal with, for both of us. You know one of those lame win/win thingy."

"Look Ruby, you don't have any friends …"

"Ha! I have lots of friends, Miss Twin Peaks! Better friends than you, I will have you know! Everyone at Heart would kill to be my teammate, like totally kill, like … like," Ruby quickly scan the locker room till she spotted a tall, muscle bound boy that she knew from Heart. All the girls though he was 'tall drink of water', and they would all fight over the chance to sit next to him in the cafeteria. Well, until they found out that Jose and him like to play 'alien abduction' after lights out. "Like Chuck over there. Hey Chuck! How's it going, my bro?" The boy in question, when he saw who was waving a closed fist at him, went from an easy going grin to full fledge panic. "Hey Chuck, come here and be my friend so my almost …"

"Don't hurt me Rose!"

"Ha-ha, such a kidder Chuck is, isn't he? Look, just tell Yang here how good of friends …"

"The restraining order say you have to stay 25 feet away …"

"That's not enforceable anymore … look just come over here and tell Yang how …"

"I won't be one of your 'test subjects' again you … you … monster!"

"Will you shut up, you fucking dick, and get your ass over here and tell Yang how good of friends we are before I go over there and kick your fucking teeth in!"

"You stay away from me, Rose! You hear me, stay away!" Chuck screamed as he fled the locker room.

"Get back here, you fucking cry baby." Ruby snarled as he took off. "See if I push you around in a wheel chair for six weeks again, Chuck!"

"Yep, good friends." Yang said dryly as she watched Chuck run away.

"Oh shut it." Ruby snapped as she sat back down on the ground and pulled her backpack out of her locker. "Sure, fine, leave me in my greatest hour of need after you promised yesterday, promise me and your dad, _your dad Yang_ , to be at my side when I need you the most. See if I care if you break your word … to your own father … who does that to their own father Yang, especially when he could croak any day now, Yang!"

"He is old but not that old."

"His heart is going to give out because his pride and joy lied to him! Lied to him! You promise him to watch out for me and you lied! Think on that, Yang, you think about that real hard as we rush to the hospital to see him one more time before he takes that final dirt nap."

"And I will be there for you," Yang said easily while Ruby try to decided which bombs to take with her. "And I am, I am helping you by making sure you get the chance to learn how to work with others. Especially people that you don't know well. It will help you grow as a person."

"Ugh! Now you sound like my headmistress." Ruby zipped up the bag, after standing back up and throwing it over her shoulders, she grabbed her gloves and slammed her locker close.

"This isn't Heart, you know; in here, there are nothing but the top students, all striving to be the best Hunter that they can be, just like you. Trust me Ruby, in this group of kids; there has to be one person who is just as strong, smart and dedicated as you are that you will enjoy being friends with."

"Oh shut up, will you? You're making me ill."

"Come on, Ruby, you just haven't realized what a boon this will be. In fact, I bet the next person to walk by would be the best match possible for you, someone you will be proud to call your best friend!" Ruby gave Yang a pointed look while Yang stood there with a bright smile and her hands on her hips … as that blond guy walked by mumbling about his locker again. After he pass by, Ruby gave Yang a different look as well as an offensive hand signal. "Wow, talk about bad timing." Yang muttered before giving Ruby another smile. "Forget him, the next person you meet will be the winner!"

"Excuse me." Ruby and Yang both turn to see a white hair girl, the only other girl who was as petite and svelte as Ruby, wearing a white skirt, white jacket and white wedge boots standing next to them with a look of distaste on her face. "Didn't your mommy ever tell you not to wear your pajamas out in public, little girl?"

"Or maybe I should just quit while I'm ahead," Yang muttered quietly.

"Yep!" Ruby said brightly. "She also told me not to look like a stripper as well. Guess someone's mommy forgot to tell you that part, Snowflake. Oh well, you know what they say 'like mother, like daughter'."

"Humph," the girl said while walking away. "As lame of a comeback as I expected … from a child."

Ruby glare at the other's back as she walked away, hoping that the heat of her glare would set her on fire … or something. Speaking softly, all she could muster was, "Bitch."

"Ruby," Yang said in a weary voice.

"I mean it; she is a total bitch."

"Just let it go …"

"' Let it go'? Are you crazy? Did you see what she did?"

"Ruby." Yang grabbed Ruby's arm and began pulling her towards the exist. "Come on, you will be fine."

"I mean, yeah that was a totally lame comeback but to point it out like that! I knew it was lame, she knew it was lame. Couldn't she just let it slide? Oh, hell no to the square! Total Bitch."

* * *

Seventeen-year-old Weiss Schnee watch in growing horror as the red headed girl leaned out further and further as the bullhead zipped along the forest at tree top level. The girl, who was reportedly two years younger than her, seemed oblivious to the danger she was placing herself in as she screamed out in joy, trying to swat the tree tops as they flew by.

Why the yellow wearing, blond bimbo, whom Weiss had seen her talking to earlier, wasn't saying anything to her friend, Weiss didn't know. At first, Weiss figure that the other girl was probably just as bad herself but as the trip went on, she figures it was more likely that Blondie cared no more for the pink, tight wearing girl than she herself did.

"Get back in here, you big dolt!" Weiss finial snapped at the girl since no one else was willing to say anything.

"Aw, chill out Snowflake," the red head said turning her head enough to shoot Weiss with a grin. "I got this."

"I will not 'chill out', you dolt. If you fell out, we would be unable to complete our assignment today. No doubt, we would be force to cancel our initiation and be diverted then forced into searching for your bloody and broken corpus."

Propping herself up on her elbow, Red gave her a bigger grin, "Aw! You care about me already, you are so sweet, Snowflake."

"My name is Weiss Schnee," Weiss said tartly. She found it impossible that even this child was unaware of her identity. Her family was known in all four kingdoms as the largest, most powerful, and rumored to be the most ruthless, corporation in the world. And given how her father treats her, as cold and abusive as he can be to his own flesh and blood, Weiss was sure the rumors only told part of the story. "I would kindly ask you to use my name instead of one of your silly and immature nicknames."

"Well," the girl said, getting up off the floor and sitting on her knees as one would expect from a proper lady. Even if she wasn't dressed as one. She was wearing a pink and white spandex body sock that covered her from the neck down, except for that strip of very sheer material running up the side of her outfit. Not that Weiss was staring at it, but she was pretty sure it was almost, completely transparent, that is how sheer it was. If that wasn't bad enough, the girl wasn't wearing any shoes! How can she expect to run around in the forest, in a Grimm infested forest, without any shoes? More importantly, why did Professor Ozpin not stop her from boarding after he saw her without shoes? "Technically, I am calling you by your name. The ancient nomadic tribes who first settled in your region of Atlas, which later became the Ughda Kingdom, which was in turn sacked by the Gudera empire, which is the bases for your land's langue before the introduction of the common tongue, had many words for snow. 'Weiss' was one of them and it means 'snow', 'soft, pretty and gentle falling'; a 'light shower of snow', if you would. It is actually one of the few word that hasn't changed much over the centuries."

"This is … actually correct," Weiss admitted in a tone almost close to approval. Very few people, even in Atlas, knows what Weiss's name actually means.

"That's amazing Ruby," her friend said who was standing next to Weiss, holding on to the safety strap like a sensible adult.

"So Weiss Schnee means 'snowflake'?" The black hair girl, who was wearing a rather large black bow, asked from behind Weiss.

"Oh no, weiss means snow." The girl, Ruby, said before flipping back over on to her stomach to look out the bullhead. "I added the 'flake' part because I knew it would piss her off."

"Now there is the Ruby we all know and hate," Yang muttered softly. Yang then gave Weiss a small smile, "Don't mind her, once you get to know her, she is pretty cool."

"Lies, Snowflake, she is full of lies today!" Ruby said loudly.

Weiss was kind of impressed since she had a bit of trouble hearing Yang speaking to her, and she was standing right beside her. The noise from the open hatchway was quite loud.

"I keep telling you Ruby, you will thank me one day."

"Hey! You know what? I will thank you today!" Ruby was standing between Yang and her before Weiss even notice her moving. "How about we have a little wager, uh? Make things interesting?"

"We are going into a Grimm infested forest? How much more exciting do you wish to have?" Weiss asked hotly as Yang seems to be thinking over the younger girl's words.

"It's not that infested, Snowflake, I use to go camping out here all the time … well, maybe not this far out but it ain't like that bad."

"You mean, when you ran away from school to hide out in the woods and play around with the Grimm until one of the half dozen or so Hunters from Vale found you and dragged you back to school, while you were kicking and screaming abuses at them the whole time?"

"Like I said, camping." Ruby said deadpan, then flashed a smile any sales man would kill for at Yang and herself. "So how about it you two, five liens each, winner takes all?"

"What's the rules?" Yang sounded way too interested for Weiss taste.

She had hoped the older girl would blow Ruby off and that would make her drop this nonsense, but clearly, Yang and Ruby are both dolts.

"The one who kills the most Grimm, wins."

"Oho! Simple, I like that," Nora said from behind Pyrrha. "Can I get in on this action?"

"I am always willing to help others get rid of their cash umm …"

"I'm Nora and this is Ren, we are together … well, not 'together' together. Although we have been friends for like, forever and ever, we've never been together-together."

"Okay," Weiss was amused that Ruby had blink a couple times before moving along. It seems that Nora was quite capable of befuddling anyone she comes in contact with. That made Weiss feel a little bit better,anyways. "So how about you … umm … Ron, is it?"

"It's Jaune, Jaune Arc, like the name … rolls off the tongue, don't you think?"

"Yeah … sure … whatever you say Don, so you in?"

"It's Jaune and yes, I will be glad to partake in your little competition, however, I feel as I should warn you ahead of time about my abilities so you can gracefully bow out of the competition now, instead of facing humiliation as you pay me. Still, if you insist on competing, I still will feel it is unfair of me to take your money but I will do so with a heavy heart and wallet. So please, no tears while you pay me."

"Sure, sure; you just keep telling yourself that, Juan. So how about you all tall, dark and mysterious? You in?"

"Name is Blake Belladonna, and sure, why not?"

"That's the spirit. Come on Pyrrha, you know you have some money you're just itching to donate."

"I'm not sure it would be right …"

"Oh, it will be fine, Pyrrha. Think of it as one of those stupid … err … Yang? What do they call those stupid things when they get a bunch of people who don't like each other to work together for some stupid thingy?"

"Team building."

"Yeah, think of this as one of those team thingies; with you in the competition, it'll just encourages the rest of us to, you know, work harder or something."

"Well, in that case …"

"Great!" Ruby slide back in front of Weiss, wearing her stupid sly grin again. "So Snowflake? Are you in or are you out?"

"A child's game advocated by a child," Weiss told Ruby, secretly enjoying some of the smugness leave her grin as her eyes narrowed slightly. "Here I thought you would want a real challenge, alas, I was mistaken."

"Oh, do tell."

"Well, anyone, and by that I mean you, could find a bunch of junior Grimm and slaughtering the whole bunch, raking up numbers while the rest of us go after the full size Grimm, like real Huntress." Weiss leaned in closer to Ruby's face, she could tell by Ruby's expression she was hitting Ruby's pride really hard. "So I propose an amendment to the rules. 1st, no junior Grimm; to count for this bet, they all must be at least adult size. 2nd, different value should be attached to the diverse Grimm. Beowolves worth five points, Boarbatusk 7 points, Ursa Major 10 points, King Taijitu and Death Stalkers both 15 points and Nevermore is worth 20 points. At the end, who has the most points, win. So is that acceptable to you, child, or would you rather go back to the playground, where you belong?"

For several seconds, both Weiss and Ruby glared at each, neither one looked willing to back down. Weiss knew she wasn't going to, she was a Schnee after all, she refused to be goaded or intimidated by some half pint juvenile delinquent. So they stood there, staring into each other's eyes, as the rest of the students held their collected breaths before Ruby finally let a grin slip out as well as a giggle.

"I fucking hate you, Yang." She said before the giggles turn into full belly laugh.

"Does this mean you're admitting I was right?"

"Aw, eat shit and die, bitch." Ruby told Yang while still laughing

"Your welcome," Yang said back to Ruby with a grin. "So anyone have any objections to the changes?" When no one objected, Yang slapped both Weiss and Ruby on the back while they both went back to glaring at the other. Normally, Weiss dislike any unnecessary physical contact from anyone for any reason, but she let Yang slide this one time. After all, she was far too busy intimidating Ruby to say anything to Yang. "All righty then, may the best Hunter or Huntress win!"


	5. Chapter 5

"Having said that, the first person you make eye contact with, will be your partner for the next four years."

Ruby rolled her eyes as she played with one of the straps on her backpack, trying to get it tight as she could before she got thrown into the air. _Great,_ _Professor Ozpin has a twisted sense of humor … got to love it. Not!_

"Once you have been pair up, you will make your way North to an abandoned temple, where you will find a group of relics. You and your partner will choose one relic and return here to the cliff."

 _Fine, avoid making eye contact with anyone, sneak in grab a relic then claim I couldn't find anyone when I get back here; You can do this Ruby."_

"And if you should find yourself at the temple without finding a partner, you will remain at the temple until a suitable candidate arrives. For, if you return to the cliff, sans a partner, you will fail and be removed from the program."

 _Oh you jack- "_ Excuse me, Professor Ozpin, but what if for some odd reason, like something happens to someone that I have absolutely nothing to do with it, you know, because I wasn't around and have an air tight, court approved alibi, and that someone gets severely injured or accidently dies and I don't get a partner? What happens then?" Ruby asked Headmaster Ozpin with her best 'I am completely adorable' smile she could muster.

"There will be enemies within the forest. Your instructors will be monitoring your progress but we will not interfere. So do not hesitate to destroy everything within your path. For if you do not, you will die." Ruby watched him take a sip of his coffee, she could have sworn she saw him smile a bit before he went on. "And Miss Rose, those conditions would still apply. So, again, it would be in your best interest to seek out and obtain a partner early. I know I don't need to point that out since I am sure you would gladly take whatever steps you need to help ensure your fellow students avoid any 'accidents' until they return here."

"You sure know how to suck the fun out this," Ruby mumbled as Ozpin took another sip of his coffee.

"If there are no more questions," Ozpin asked then ignored Jaune, which almost made Ruby smile, he told them to take their place.

Ruby quickly jumped towards the end of the line, next to Yang and sadly, next to Jaune as well. Ruby needed to be near Yang when she was launched so she can observe her trajectory, where she hit the apex of her arch and speed of her flight so Ruby had a half away decent chance of landing anywhere near her. If she was going to be hamstrung with a fucking partner, might as well be someone she knew would let her down eventually, rather than be surprised at the worst possible moment.

"So are you dropping us off or … something," Ruby heard Jaune ask while Yang gave her a cheeky smile and slipped on a pair of …

 _That bitch! Sunglasses … cheating little …_ Ruby thought as she watch Yang go flying off.

"So did you … pass out … parachutes?"

Ruby gave Jaune a look of amusement then was rocketed away herself. She could see Yang ahead and above; she still hadn't hit the apex yet. Which made Ruby pause a moment, _Wait? Yang weights more than I do, so her height shouldn't be higher than mine …_ "You Bitch!"

Ruby saw, clearly now, how Yang was using her shotgun gauntlets, similar but a heaver, more powerful version of her own, to give herself an enough of a boost to get up higher in the sky. Ruby gave a momentary thought about increasing her own height and speed but knew it wouldn't work as well for her since the 12-gauge slug shotgun shells just had more of a kick then her puny .357 rounds.

And unlike that traitor, her arch was already at its apex. Ruby shot a small Nevermore out of frustration as she watched Yang somehow outsmart her.

With a growl, she closed her eyes so she could concentrate on making the calculation she needed to arrest her own speed enough so she would land safely and not end up a splatter on the ground. She also laid out in a spread eagle fashion to help slow herself down.

 _Okay, Ruby; you were at 1000 meters above the ground and will be traveling at 140 f/s at the end, wait! Was I … err … at least … I had to be … I mean if Yang was a good fifty feet above and forward … and she use her … no, Ruby stop over thinking it … let's go with 1000 meters so I need to start slowing down in five … four … three …_

That is when she hit the top of the first tree. Instantly, she curled up slightly to protect that most important lady parts when she slammed into the top of the subsequent tree … over and over again. Ruby bounced either through or off of each tree in line, each one causing her to tumbled further out of control. The forest resonated with the sounds of wildlife fleeing and screeching as well as branches snapping. She finally hit the ground, bounce a couple times, then started rolling down the hill, right into a small ravine till she finally came to a skidding stop in a small creek, face first.

She pulled herself up and sat back on her knees, while still in the small creak, wiping the mud and water from her face and then stretched her legs out from under her making another, smaller, splash as she yelled up in the uncaring sky, "Fuck!"

* * *

Weiss landed softly in the jungle as someone went screaming overhead. She glances up in time to see a yellow blur go shooting over head with a trail of smoke behind it.

 _Hmm, Yang Xiao Long, I presume. Either showing off or … no, I am just going to assume she is showing off._

Weiss took a moment to survey the woods around her, careful not to move her feet since she wasn't sure she could find North again if she moved around too much. Weiss has never spent much time in the wilderness before, at least not alone.

Her tutors have taken her out to the forest beyond the walls of Atlas, a couple times, in organized trips with a security chaperone, and her family estate was located in a mildly wooded area but nothing like this. As far as she could see around her and above her, was trees, braches, leaves and brush.

It wasn't scary for her to be out here, in such unfamiliar surroundings, alone, since she was a Schnee and knew no fear. It was however … unsettling.

Especially the way the trees seem to loom over her rather petite body, and how the wind seems to rattle the leaves making such strange sounds that was joined by unseen creatures calling out in their voices. Such sounds that she was hearing were never something she has ever experience, except in video recordings. Nevertheless, no matter how … unsettling … present circumstances were, she still had a mission to complete and an excellent grade to earn.

Squaring her shoulders, Weiss started heading North, knowing that eventually she would find either Pyrrha or maybe that girl Blake or someone who was at least somewhat competent enough to be her partner for the next four years.

 _Even Yang Xiao Long wouldn't be too unrealistic of a partner_ , Weiss though as she pushed through some brush that seemed to grab at her as she moved through it. She supposed that Yang wasn't, couldn't, be as a big bimbo as she acts if she got this far …

 _Then again, Jaune is here, so that might not mean as much as I hope,_ Weiss though as she pulled some ugly thrones like things from her jacket that stuck to her as she moved through the brush.

Weiss just couldn't explain how that idiot, how can any teenage boy, for that matter, who was in their field _not_ know who Pyrrha Nikos is? Not only was she the strongest fighter in the Sanctum Academy, gathering the most wins and honors than any other person their age but she was also very attractive and elegant.

 _Clearly not as elegant, as beautiful or as graceful as I_ , Weiss mused as she tripped over some root she missed while swatting at the annoying bugs buzzing around her head. _Clearly, he knows excellence since he, of course, target me first but to be unaware of Pyrrha? Then again, after I mentioned that disgusting Pumpkin Pete cereal … well, he does seem to be the kind who would eat that garbage._

Weiss stop for a moment to look around as she tried, unsuccessfully, to get some dirt off her skirt. She knew she had walked a fair distance but this forest looked … about the same as the section she landed in. Two thoughts occurred to her, one was that she hoped she didn't have to deviate too far off her present course, she was unsure she could find North again in this mess.

And the second thought was that whomever said that nature was a wonder that everyone should enjoy, obviously had the IQ of a dry sponge and had no actual experience with what they were taking about.

Nature in the wide open, untamed spaces was _not_ a joy to behold!

Wild forests were dirty, creepy and disgusting deathtraps waiting to trip up and dirty perfectly clean clothing! Her clothing was already snagging, tearing and she just knew it was going to be next to impossible to get clean!

Weiss couldn't imagine any sane, rational person would prefer … _No, wait, she would, I wager. Yang did say that child has run away from home on several occasions to play in these woods._ If anything that was just one more thing that made Weiss question just how that girl got into such an academic institution such as Beacon Academy, which was by far, the best of the four school that train hunters and huntress.

Avoiding her family and their influence wasn't the only factor in Weiss's choice to come to Vale. Although, that was a very powerful incentive, it pales to the fact that Beacon Academy has consistently produce the best hunters and huntresses then the other three combined. And Headmaster Ozpin was far more selective in his acceptance process, keeping his classes a bit smaller than the rest, still, he also has the highest number of students who have little or no formal training. Whereas Atlas, on the other hand, rarely admits anyone without the credentials from some accredited preparatory school.

While her father, predictably, and her sister, Winter, to a less degree but still enough to make Weiss a bit sad, both felt as did most of the upper class members of Atlas; breeding and training from only the best will make them stronger.

Weiss's tutors have always insisted that she use her reasoning skills and intellect to see through the lies and deceptions around her. To abstractly, as possible, examine all evidence presented to her in any situation, to see if what she had been told matches with what she has seen or know. A concept that has put her at odds with her tutors as well as with her family as well.

If the Atlas system works so well, if they have the largest and finest military in the world, was it because they were or because no other nation has a standing army?

If Atlas was such a powerhouse when it comes to science and technology, was it because they have the best minds available or because of the Schnee Dust company allows the Atlas government a substantial discount, which allows for more mistakes and time to produce inventions?

If the Faunas, which used to be enslaved by Humans, were still too ignorant and lazy to be considered the same as humans, was it because they were or was it because those who claim to be compassionate and 'want to help lift them out of poverty' set up the rules to keep them down?

That argument was guarantee to produce fireworks; to have someone tell her that she just has to trust them and that when she gets older she will see the truth, in which she answers back by always points out how many humans are just as 'lazy and dimwitted' and how it does not make them superior either just because they are human.

And if Atlas system of recruitment was truly superior; then why did Beacon win the Vytal festival more often than not?

Why were some of the greatest Hunters and Huntresses in recent memory, such as Juna Goonyella, Violet Carmichael, Ken Hurouse, Summer Rose … all from Beacon, two had been Faunas …

Weiss froze as she notices that all the unfamiliar noises around her stopped. Even the breeze rustling the leaves seem to be silent. Weiss may not know much about the forest and wildlife around her, however, she did not like the sudden and complete silence either. Turning very slowly, she scanned the brush around her till she saw a section nearby start to move on its own.

Wide eyed, Weiss pulled her Myrtenaster from her belt as slowly as she could, wondering what could be making that movement. It was as if something was trying to sneak up on …

 _Or someone,_ Weiss relaxed a bit and let her annoyance show on her face. _Oh God, it probably that loser Jaune trying to spy on her or maybe Yang double back trying to spook her. Yang seems to be the type that would pull a stupid stunt like that._ Walking over to the area she saw moving, she had an even worst thought, _Or … Ruby!_ "Ruby Rose, if that is you in those bush trying to scare me, it won't work you, immature child! We don't have time to play …"

Weiss dropped low and swung her body to the right, almost without thought, as a beowolf leapt from the bushes and snapped at her head. As she swung, her blade was able to slash a line from its neck to midway down its flank. It wasn't enough to kill it but being crouched down meant the second beowolf that was in the trees above her, missed as it jumped down at her.

Spinning her cylinder, she set the second Grimm on fire while jumping to her right as a third and four Grimm joined in the fight. Using one of her glyph, she pushed herself backwards in a single bound to give her some room to deal with …

 _Eight? Nine? How many are there?_ Weiss shook her head, it didn't matter how many there were, one or a dozen, she was a Schnee and a future huntress and she will not shrink from her responsibility to destroy the Grimm. She will stand tall and defeat her enemies, she will not suffer defeat and die here and now, or suffer a worst fate; a poor grade!

For the next few minutes, Weiss lost track of the number of Grimm she either froze or burned, how many times she shot ice through her portal glyphs, how many Grimm she slaughtered, all she knew was they just kept coming.

And she was getting mentally and physically exhausted.

And they were still coming.

She took a quick step back …

And fell backwards after tripping on a root.

She watched, as time seemed to slow down, as a large beowolf launched itself in the air, it's jaws open wide and …

Weiss watched as the Grimm got hit by something, which sliced its head clean off.

"Stay down, Snowflake!" A voice said from behind her as another something buzzed overhead. "And don't look at me."

"Ruby! How did you find me?" Weiss said, never has she been so happy to see anyone before.

"I followed your little girl screams. God damn-nit, you really want to fucking win that bet, don't you? What did you do, send out invitations?"

"I was not screaming like a little girl, you dolt." Weiss snapped, never before has she been so annoyed to see anyone before.

"Stop moving around, your blocking my shots and don't fucking look at me!"

"What do you mean, 'don't look at you'? Why would I want to look at you anyways, you are nothing special to look at, you know!" Weiss shouted out over the noise of Ruby's gunshots.

"If we make eye contact, we are going to be stuck together for the next four years!"

"But if we don't work together, we will die."

"We won't know that for sure," Ruby said diving to the right and bringing her left arm up and catching some kind of disk out of the air before swing her right arm at the throat of a Grimm.

"We are outnumbered," Weiss pointed out as she sent a pair of Grimm flying backwards. "We will die if we don't work together."

"We will work together, just not look at each other!" Weiss heard the clicking the sounded as if Ruby was reloading her weapon.

"That is just ridicules! We cannot hamstring ourselves in any manner. Would dying really be preferable to being partnered with me?" They stood back to back as the circle of Grimm started to closed in on them, it seems to Weiss anyways, that for every Grimm they kill, two more took its place. After a couple seconds, Weiss snapped, "Well?"

"I'm thinking, Snowflake!" As Weiss huffed, Ruby shook wildly, "Grab my backpack." As Weiss pulled the backpack down, Ruby told her, "Open it up. Inside on the top there is two black boxes. Do you see them?"

"Yes, they both have red buttons? What are the purpose of this devices anyways?"

"Right, one red button is plain. The other one have two white arrows pointed up … now when I tell you, hit the red button without …"

"Got it!"

"What?"

"I pushed the red button …"

"Not yet, you fucking ass hat! Please, tell me you hit the plain …"

"No, I hit the one with two white … Hey!" Weiss let out a yelp as Ruby swung around, picked her up in her arms, bridal style, and bent down in a runners start position. As Ruby ran from her backpack, which had starting to beeping loudly and quickly, the world blur for Weiss as they ran through the forest. They didn't get far when she heard an explosion behind them and then they both were sent soaring uncontrollably through the air.


	6. Chapter 6

Weiss landed awkwardly, on the forest floor, rolling over a couple small trees and bushes, to finally coming to a stop in an small clearing. As Weiss stood, brushing the offending dirt and twigs from her clothing and skin, she could see in the near distance, a large black cloud that marked the location of the explosion. "Ruby?" She called out as she slowly started walking in the direction of the smoke. "Ruby?"

"Over here," She heard Ruby say clearly while also mumbling something.

"Where is over here?" Weiss asked louder walking a bit quicker. "Ruby?"

"Over here … fucking …"

"What?" Weiss said then let out a yelp as she tripped over something when she walked behind a tree. She looked back to a disheveled Ruby Rose half sitting, half laying against the tree. And she looked like hell, she was covered in mud from head to toe, she had small cuts and bruises on her face, her suit was snagged and tear in places that might provide some embarrassment to Ruby later but right now, she didn't seem to register much. "Ruby? Oh my, are you all right?"

Ruby looked up at her with a friendly smile, or so Weiss had thought, until Ruby said, "You fucking whore!"

"What?"

"What in hell … who is the fucking idiot which randomly pushes buttons on an explosive ordinance package?" Ruby said, kind of trying to point in Weiss direction. "You, that's who."

"Excuse me?"

"God, I wish there was." Ruby snapped as she wiped some of the mud and blood from her face. "You know when I first saw you, I thought, 'Damn it, she is way too beautiful to be a Huntress', because beautiful people are always idiots, Snowflake, always. But, you know, people say I am always too quick to judge others." Struggling, Ruby pushed herself up by leaning on the tree, Weiss tried to step in to help her but the younger girl just swapped away her hands.

"Quite being a baby and let me help you."

"I did let you help, which is how I ended up kissing a tree, Snowflake!"

"You should have been clearer in your instructions," Weiss shout back at her as she darted forward to help steady Ruby as she slid back down to the ground. "Stay still, dolt, let me see to your injuries."

"Clearer instructions? You didn't give me a chance, Snowflake. I was starting to tell you what I needed you to do and you were all like 'oh let me play with these shiny buttons'."

"Also you should have told me earlier that you were carrying bombs. So I could develop the appropriate tactics."

"Well, most intelligent people get bitchy when they find out I am carrying four explosive ordinance devices, especially when they find out they are homemade. But since we are talking about you, I can't use that excuse, now can I?"

"How many fingers and I am holding up?"

"Four."

"And now?"

"That is the wrong finger, you're supposed to use the middle one."

"I am not a vulgar degenerate, unlike someone I know."

"Sure, sweet talk me now." Weiss watched Ruby close her eyes and let out a moan. "Fucking trees."

"So you built those bombs? Then it was your incompetence that was the main reason for their failure?" Weiss snapped as she tried to adjusted parts of Ruby clothing to better hide some parts.

"If you are going to try to turn me on because you want to thank me for saving your life, you know, could you wait till we get back, at least, and had a shower. I would like to be clean for my first time."

"What!" Weiss lean back, shocked beyond words.

"Well, you keep touch my boobies …"

"I am trying to pull up some material to cover the areas that are exposed, I am not feeling you up, you degenerate! And it would be easier if you were wearing a bra." Weiss said jumping back to give the freak some room. "Besides, why should I reward you for anything, it was your incompetence that almost got me killed!"

"Keep telling yourself that, Snowflake." Ruby smiled as she stood up, under her own power and was able to stay on her feet. Weiss watch the girl look down at her top, let out a grunt and left it alone. It was exposing more skin then Weiss was comfortable with but she had to admit, nothing too risqué was showing. "And my improvised explosive ordinance worked perfectly, Snowflake, they exploded, didn't they?" Ruby lost her smile as she slowly walked away, heading towards the clearing. "The fucking problem was you, Miss Weiss Schnee, since you failed to listen to instructions from someone who knows what they are doing."

"Maybe you should have been clearer in your instruction …" Weiss followed the younger girl as Ruby picked up some sticks and some other stuff.

"Maybe you should have waited for me to finish giving your instructions." Ruby stopped, looked up in the sky and then stab the stick in the ground. "I had four IEDs' in my backpack, each had their own detonator but one had an extra switch that link all four to each other. That was the one that you fucking pushed! The one that I did _not_ want you to fucking push!"

"Why would you have that kind of switch …"

"Nevermore are incredibility tough; if I need to, I could have made that bird swallow the whole pack and setting off all four of them, that would have blown up that bird from the inside out." Weiss watched as Ruby jammed one of the sticks into the ground. "I also had my spare ammo, all 120 beautiful rounds, in that pack, I had hoped to get some fun in today. Now, I have less than 90 rounds left, have to conserve them to make sure I get us out of here alive."

"What are you doing?" Weiss asked as Ruby tore away some grass to lay a piece of bark at the end of the shadow that the stick made.

"I also had a pint of water and some trail bars; always a good idea to carry water and food whenever you go into a forest, especially one like Emerald Forest. If you get lost, not having to worry about food and water does help."

"Speaking from experience, no doubt," Weiss said, intending it to be insulting but wasn't too surprise when the younger girl nodded in agreement. _Clearly, such a child would be stupid_ …

"I've told you, I use to go hunting in these woods, I gotten lost a few times. So I've learned a few tricks the hard way, you would've too if you had a real education instead of being taught how to be pompous ass."

"Excuse me …"

"'I'm Weiss Schnee, my daddy is richest man in the whole world, I don't have to know anything, daddy's money will save me. Tee-hee.'" Ruby said in a rich, syrupy voice that did sound a lot like most of the girls that Weiss had the misfortune of meeting at various events her father force her to attend. "So daddy's girl …"

"I am not a 'daddy's girl' and don't ever call me that again. And what are you doing?"

"Oh-I-am-so-sorry," Ruby said sticking out her tongue. "So bossy …"

"And I am not being bossy! I am never bossy and I demand you never say anything that mean again, do you understand me!"

"Sure, whatever you say …"

"I mean it Ruby Rose," Weiss stalked over to the other girl, to stand inches apart and stared hard into those silver eyes. "Do not ever call me bossy again!"

Ruby stared back for a few minutes before saying, "You're cute when you're angry, Snowflake, anyone tell you that before?"

"Yes, most likely by the same number of people that has called you're an evil bitch. Nonetheless, your lame attempt at humor will not distract me right now, Rose. Do you understand me when I say I will not tolerate you being that unnecessarily cruel to me as long as we are forced into this partnership?"

"Fuck you, Schnee." Ruby snarled back at her before walking back over to the stick in the ground.

"Like you said, I would prefer a shower before giving it up for the first time, Rose." Weiss allowed herself a small, internal chuckle at Ruby's double take. "What is it, Rose? Amazed that someone else might be as dedicated as you in becoming a huntress?"

"No, not really," Ruby said, Weiss did give the other girl a bit of credit for a fast recovery, until she added on, "you being a virgin makes sense since you are such a bossy daddy's girl …"

Weiss reached out and slapped Rose, hard, on her right check. As Ruby stood there with the look of astonishment on her face, Weiss said in a low, hard voice. "Do not call me either 'bossy' or 'daddy's girl' ever again. Do you understand?"

"Fuck you …"

"You couldn't handle me," Weiss answered after striking Ruby's left check with her left hand. "Now, do you understand me?"

"What? Don't like being reminded that you can't suck your daddy's …" Weiss threw a punch at Ruby's head, which should have connected if Ruby hadn't reached out in a blink of the eye and caught it, hard. Not wasting time, she threw her right out, but it too, was caught by Ruby. Leaning in, while Weiss struggled to get lose, the younger girl gave her an evil smile, "Oppsie, looks like someone forgot someone else had super speed? You want me to say sorry, Schnee? Then you going to have to beat it out of me. Bitch."

With that had been said, Weiss was released and then went on her knees, after receiving a punch to the gut that she never saw coming. With a growl, Weiss launched a glyph at the red headed offender.

Then things got real.

* * *

"So what is her story?" Blake Belladonna asked her newest partner, Yang Xiao Long as they pushed through the forest.

"Have you ever heard of a village called Rochester?" The yellow clad bruiser, with the insignia of a burning dragon on her jacket, said over her shoulder.

"Yes," Blake knew it was a safe answer that anyone could give, even someone who had once been a member of the White Fang. "It is a village close to the Mistral Kingdom and the kingdom of Vale's bordered. It is one place where humans and fauna have co-existed for years, even before the Great War."

"It also suffered a major Grimm attack almost 12 years ago, did you know that?"

"Major is an understatement," Blake said with a toss of her head. "If what I have heard about the attack was true. Four, large Beringel went on a rampage there; luckily for the villagers they had enough warning from a passing group of Hunters to get themselves into the shelters while the hunters held them off until more help could arrive. Once help arrive, they were able to clean out the village but sadly one of the Huntress, who originally sounded the alarm, didn't make it. Still she was the only loss of life against odds that huge, she has been an inspiration to many since."

"Yep, that is the story they're sticking too, alright."

"There is more?" Blake asked, her interested was caught by the way Yang sounded so sad and dismissive about the story.

"No harm in telling you, I guess. It's not a super, big secret or anything, it's just … most people don't know the truth because it messes with their worldview. Plus, there is another reason no one talks about the truth, you will figure out why when I am done."

"I've heard that story once or twice from different sources," Blake said cynically.

"Yeah, well; it wasn't four Grimm, it was eight, and it wasn't a group of hunters; it was one Huntress, the one who died, that stopped six of them before they killed her. And they weren't randomly attacking the village, the Grimm followed that Huntress there, they were chasing her … and her three-year-old child."

"She took her child out with her on a hunt?"

"No," Yang said sadly as she climbs over a fallen tree. "She was on her way to Mistral, to visit a friend. She took her daughter because it was supposed to be a nice, little family vacation." Yang was quiet for a bit, Blake deduced there was a personal connection between the Huntress and Yang but wasn't able to see it, yet.

"So imagine you're a mother, you have your pride and joy with you, out to enjoy life and … and … then you are running for your life, desperately fighting to save your child, Blake. She stumbles on them, out there in the middle of nowhere; she didn't even try to fight them at first. She just ran for it. Her smashed truck was found a couple days later four miles from the village, you know, found in two pieces."

"So imagine," Yang said softly as she stopped and laid one hand on a nearby tree, as if seeking strength from it. "You have eight Beringel chasing you through the forest and in the distance, you see a village. And they see you, kind of hard to miss if you think about it. A single woman in a white cape running for dear life through a field, cradling a child in her arms, while those Grimm grunting and howling like the animals they pretend to be. Imagine Blake."

"Imagine having those villagers running around, gathering their own children and themselves, to get to the safety of their shelter. Their defenders are trying their best but they aren't stopping the Grimm. Now imagine you thinking you found a safe place for your daughter, your three-year-old angle, Blake, your darling little angle … and then being told to go to hell!"

"What?!"

"They said that she brought those Grimm to them then she could rot for all they cared! They had no room for her or her daughter!"

"But … I am sure the Fauna would …" Blake stopped talking as Yang turned around, her lilac eyes had turn to a glowing red.

"The mayor of the village was a fauna and the head of security was human; that village have a reputation of both races being equal there, and boy, did they prove it that day." Yang said sharply. "Of course, by now, all kinds of Grimm were popping out of the forest; beowlves, Creeps and whatnots. Opportunists, eager to feed on the scraps left behind by the Beringel. It was becoming a nightmare fast, Blake, and what did you think that Huntress did, Blake?"

"She ran," Blake answered softly. _It was a cowardly act but under the circumstances, it was the only real option since she had her daughter with …_ Yang's bitter laugh cut off Blake's thoughts as she studied the sad face of Yang Xiao Long.

"You have no idea how much I wish she would have. God, you have no idea how many times I laid awake in my bed at night, crying and wishing she would have just run away!" Yang whispered while wiping away a tear. "She could have, you know, she could have and no one would have said a peep. No one would've said a word."

"Was she … was she your mom, Yang?"

"No," Yang said shaking her head while sitting down and leaning against a tree. "She could have been, maybe, once, might have been nice, but no, my mom … well, that's a different story. Anyways, the village is under full assault, their shelter is half full, people are running around trying to either fight or get in the shelter, which had been design to hold out against a large attack but nothing like what was happening. So instead of doing the one thing anyone else would have done, instead of running away; she set her child down near the shelter entrance and did what she did best."

"One of the guards, he later testified to a committee that it was nothing like he had ever seen before," Yang continued after a good five minutes of silence. "He said it was like watching an angle descending down from heaven to unleash the hounds of hell on those Grimm. That the Grimm had been outnumbered by her alone but that they were too stupid to see it. And yet, they still refuse to let the child in."

"What?! She is fighting for them and they still refused … why!"

Yang shrugged her shoulders, "Don't know, don't care; that whole village could rot for all I care. Especially since she might have lived if they had!" Blake felt herself scoot backwards without meaning too as the anger filled Yang's voice. "Grimm attacks are terrifying to experience, especially for a child! Her daughter was just a baby, left alone because no one freaking cared! Her mom was saving their skins but they … they … she would crawl away, reaching out for the one person who loved her! Her mom would have to break away … she took hits I was told … I've read the reports, Blake! The unedited reports! She would take hits protecting her child! She was taking hits protecting their children! She was getting the shit knocked out of her and they … and they …"

"Did her daughter survive?" Blake asked while Yang went silent again.

"Just before … they were about to shut the door … everyone in the village was inside and … an old man pushed his way outside. The reports get fuzzy about who the man was, some say human, some say faunas, no one is really sure what his name had been; he hasn't been seen since but he finally did the right thing. He ran to the little girl just as her mom finished the six Beringel and he picked her up. Or try to, anyways, she was fighting him, trying to get free, to get to her mom. A guard finally ran out to help the old man bring the girl in. They said … they said … it is in the reports … Blake … that the Huntress turn to see her daughter being dragged into the doorway; she paused, she just stopped fighting to give her daughter a huge smile and blew a kiss at her … and then was struck down."

"No! Her daughter … did she …"

"The whole thing." Yang said sadly while picking at the dirt. Blake sat there, frozen, as those images passed by her mind's eye. Blake couldn't imagine how horrible it must have been for that little girl to see … Blake just couldn't even begin to understand what that poor girl went through. Yang broke into her thoughts with more of the tale, "I was at Beacon that day; my dad and uncle are instructors at Signal Academy on Patch. There was some kind of workshop going on, they brought me along since there was no one to watch me. We were all in a lounge for staff when the alarm came across the CCCT. I remember there was some concern but everyone was calm about it, it was two hours away by air, plenty of time even if the reports of the Grimm were true, my dad had told me."

"Then Ozpin got on the PA system and told everyone that there was a Huntress on scene. He said 'Summer is in trouble and her daughter is as well.' The place exploded after that, my dad, my uncle and just about every Hunter in the academy was racing towards the docks. Even some of the Professors who hadn't been in the field for years headed out. I remember my dad telling me to stay with the other students, that he will bring Summer and her daughter home." Yang toss some stick away that she had been using to dig at the earth while saying, "Everyone loved Summer. Even before that day, she was like the best Huntress, ever."

"Yang, who is Summer? It sounds like you know more about her then just this story. Why are you telling …" Blake threw up her hand to her mouth as it suddenly all clicked in her head. She had been asking Yang about that Rose girl before Yang told her this story. "Summer is Ruby's mom?"

"Yep."

"Oh that poor girl," Blake said softly.

"Don't say that to her, she is likely to punch you if you do. She hates sympathy, especially from strangers." Yang chuckled softly.

"Not funny Yang."

"It is if you've seen some of the people she has punched over the years. Anyways, Summer was on the team that my parents and uncle were on when they were here at Beacon, she was team leader in fact. Summer had come to Patch to stay with us not long after Ruby was born. It was so cool having a mom, even if she wasn't my real mom, you know. And Ruby was such a sweet child back then. And it was kind of cool thinking of Ruby as like a little sister."

"After Summer died, Ruby stayed with us back on Patch. Until an … incident … occurred a year and half later. It was then decided that … Ruby would be better off staying at Heart Academy as a ward of the state. Since then … my dad and I … we try to … but by then." Yang then whispered something so inaudibly that if Blake had been human, she was sure she would have never heard it, "she wouldn't even look at me for a year."

"So are you happy that she is here?"

"Yes and no," Yang stood up and reached out with a hand to help Blake stand. "Yes, because there are worst places she could have ended up in, at least here she has a focus and a goal to obtain."

"But …"

"She is also committed to kill as many Grimm as she can find, regardless of the cost. Her desire is … I am afraid that … she won't know how to set aside her anger and enjoy life, you know what I mean. I am afraid she is going to die one day without ever knowing what it is like to be happy."

"Maybe if you are both here, you and her can spend more time together …"

"No," Yang said sadly. "Too much history, she barely trusts me as is; no, if anyone can help her, it has to be someone she doesn't know. Someone who is as stubborn as she is."


	7. Chapter 7

"Think this is the place?" Yang asked her newest partner Blake while they both looked down into a small valley, which did house some pretty run down ruins sitting in it's center.

Blake, who had been pretty quiet during most of the trek, just rolled her eyes and headed down the hill. Yang shrugged her own shoulder, thinking ' _ask stupid questions, get a stupid look',_ before following her mysteries, shy partner towards the ruins. Yang still didn't know much about her new friend, the black bow wearing girl hadn't reveled much of her personal life, which didn't annoy Yang as much as it would other people she knew.

Yang was actually enjoying the prospect of figuring out this girl, to discover all those little quirks that make people so cool, on her own. What kind of music was she into? Does she go clubbing? Is she a gamer? Will they fight over the same kind of guys? Was she a smart ass? All excellent questions, which will entertain Yang for many weeks as she tries to discover the truth.

Especially, now that the main question had already been answered by her taking out that Ursa with minimal fuss or mess. The girl had the skills to be a good Huntress, so she won't drag Yang down. And that she took it down with such style, Blake was, without a doubt, Yang's type of girl. So if the girl wanted to be all cool and give vague answers, Yang can dig it.

Although, sooner or later, Yang will pry the answers out of her, just through the sheer power of her positive personality if nothing else. To one degree or another, no matter how long it takes, no one has been successful in resisting her charm, all will fall before the mighty Yang Xiao Long.

Yeah, well, as there are many things in life, there was one exception to the rule; Ruby Rose.

After all, Ruby exceled at being a pain in the rear when anyone, not just Yang, tried to get a straight answer from her about anything, no matter how small and petty it may have been about. Yang knew from frustrating years of experience dealing with Ruby Rose just how hard it was to get anything useful from the girl. Ruby was notorious for deflecting simple, personal questions with humor, or else by acting as if she didn't hear the question or using her normal, default mode by being an asshole; how she responded depended on her mood, subject of the question as well as who asked the question.

Yang has lost count the number of times Ruby has told her to fuck off in the past decade. To make it even worst, sometimes when you think she is just being a smart ass, you find out later that she was being relativity truthful all along.

Such as her so-called 'going-away' party, she claimed that she hadn't been told about. It could be Ruby just being a goof, it never actually happened and she was just saying it did, just to mess with Yang's head. However, it was also well within the realm of possibilities that her fellow students did throw her party, after she had left, and then told her about it later and citing that they didn't want her there because she would ruin the fun.

That it was very likely to have happen, and similar things have happened in the past, was a testament to Ruby's abrasive and abusive personality. Ruby really doesn't give most people any reason not to treat her like an ass since that is how she treats them.

At one time, Yang or her dad would have asked around to find out the truth, but this time, Yang was actually afraid to know what the truth was, because Yang isn't sure which would hurt Ruby more. That they had a party for her and snubbed her or no one cared enough to even think about having one for her.

Of course, even if Yang found out the truth, that red headed little twit would never admit being bothered by being snubbed or enjoying the said party. That kid had a stubborn streak that was as big as a Goliath.

It wouldn't bother Yang so much if it was just directed at her, and not at everyone else in the world, after all, it was Yang whom deserve most of the hate from Ruby. The facts speak for themselves, after all, it had been her own incredibly stupidity that nearly gotten Ruby and herself killed back when they were kids.

That day when she took Ruby, that stupid red wagon and that idiotic dream of finding her own mother, into the Grimm filled forest around Patch. Not only had Yang been too scare to run from those beowolves when they found her, but Ruby had been sound asleep in the wagon, unaware of what was happening. If it hadn't been for her uncle, swooping in at the last second to save them, Ruby would have died without having a chance to fight back.

Of course, when Uncle Qrow did wake up Ruby, and she woke up enough to understand what had happen; Ruby, for some reason or another, began kicking and screaming at Qrow. A mindless scream, if she had said anything to Qrow, Yang doesn't remember. There was a lot that happen that day Yang has trouble remembering, like just about everything that occurred after Uncle Qrow arrived, except … the look of pure agony on Ruby's face was one thing that Yang would never forget.

Nor that way Ruby looked … how she begged and pleaded … how her face went purple with tears … when they came … when she was sent away …

"There they are" Blake said suddenly, breaking Yang's train of thought.

"These are the relicts?" Yang said as Blake approached one side of the temple. "I guess a few others have been here already."

"Chess pieces?" Blake sounded unsure as Yang reached out and picked up a gold color knight.

"How about a cute little pony," Yang asked holding up the chess piece.

Yang let a bigger grin slip out as Blake gave her a matching grin while saying, "Sure, why not?"

"So Blake, do you mind if we hang here for a few," Yang asked as she slipped the 'relic' in one of her pouches. "See if Ruby has gotten around to finding a partner?"

"Are you sure she survived that explosion," Blake asked as Yang sat down on one of the fallen pillars.

"Yeah, she maybe a loud mouth, rude, little shit but she is good at combat. If she set off that explosion, it was well planned out to the last detail and then only if she had an escape route. She might not act like it but she doesn't just do things without a plan." Yang let out a huff while Blake leaned against the pillar next to her. "Besides, that was a nice little speech Professor Ozpin gave but I seriously doubt they would allow anyone to die out here. Mostly likely, they will save someone but they would be flunked out."

"I would hope so," Blake said softly but then nodded. "You're probably right. Besides, if they can't get through today without needing help it …"

"Blake?" Yang said as the bow wearing girl stop talking and turned to look off to the right. Then Yang heard a high pitch scream coming from that direction. Standing quickly, Yang yelled out, "Did you hear that, Blake? It sounds as if some girl is in trouble!"

"It does sound like that person isn't that far …"

"You think we should go help her or …" Yang broke off, spinning on her heels as a noise erupted off to the left.

A large Ursa came crashing through some brush, standing at least 8 feet tall on its hind legs. Yang caught a glimpse of Blake pulling her weapon off her back as she cocked her twin shotgun gauntlets, which she called _Ember Celica_ , knowing that it wouldn't be much a trouble for either of them to … then the Ursa let out a grunt and fell forward, revealing the pink hair Nora riding its back.

"Aw, its broken," the hyper girl said as her friend, Ren, ran up behind her.

"Did that girl just ride a Ursa?" Blake asked in a tone of amazement similar to what Yang was feeling.

"Nora!" He said sharply, "Don't do that again."

With a burst of speed that would put Ruby to shame, the girl zipped by Yang and headed to the relics as something went flying overhead, only to hit a tree and then fall to the ground.

"Ooh! I'm Queen of the castle! I'm Queen of the castle!"

"Was that Jaune who just fell out of the sky?" Blake asked as Nora did a little happy dance.

"Nora!"

"Coming Ren," Nora said with a giggle.

Before Yang could make any sense out of what was happening around her … a very large Death Stalker came out of the forest chasing Pyrrha.

"Did Pyrrha just run all this way with a Death Stalker on her tail?

"Will everyone just chill out for one second," Yang snapped feeling her patient coming quickly to an end. Which considering that she would be in battle soon, that wasn't such a bad thing.

"Jauna!" Pyrrha yelled out as she leapt out of the way and landed on the ground in front of Yang as Jaune came running up to help her.

"Alright, the whole gang is here; now we can all die together."

"I would rather avoid that outcome," Jaune said as he lifts Pyrrha up off the ground. "Thank you very much!"

"It is a rather large specimen," Ren put in as Nora and him joined the others.

"Aw, there is six of us and only one of him," Yang said cheerfully, looking forward to finally getting to fight a Grimm that large. Beowolves and Ursas were common on Patch but Death Stalkers were not.

"It might be larger enough to count as two, don't you think?" Jaune said as the Death Stalker seemed to be pacing around the ruins as if it was waiting on them to charge.

"Have anyone here fought one before," Pyrrha asked as she adjusted her weapons.

"Most of the time, smart people avoid them," Blake said with a sigh while looking at Yang out of the corner of her eye as if she knew what Yang would say next.

Giving her partner a cheeky smile, Yang confirmed Blake's guess. "Well, we aren't most people, so let's go get it!"

Yang got about five feet before Blake yelled out, "Yang," before pulling on Yang jacket, causing Yang to fall on her butt, at the same time as a large, black shape flew out of the air and slammed into the Death Stalker.

"What the …" Yang sat up on her knees as the dust settled, allowing them to see an adult size Nevermore, still screaming and flapping its wings, impaled on the Death Stalker's tail.

A sheet of ice shot out and froze the Nevermore to the Stalker while a blur shot around both of the Grimm, Yang could hear the puny sounds of a pistol rounds going off as a figure crouched on the 'head' of the Stalker. Yang and the others, just stood there, mouths open, as several different elements attacks, and pistol rounds, hit both Grimm over and over again until they both collapsed into rapidly, designating heap. And in the silence, she heard a familiar voice scream out …

"Fucking whore!"

"It worked, didn't it!" The small woman that sounded like Weiss Schnee, even if it didn't look like her, shot back as two small figures walked over to the others.

Weiss Schnee's magnificent side pony tail was missing, the pristine white jacket was smudged with dirt and ripped, one sleeve was practically holding on by a thread, as was her shirt …or what was left of it. Considering how tightly she had her jacket closed up, there probably wasn't much left of the shirt either. She was also walking with a limp as one of her boots was missing a heal. Her face and exposed skin was scratched, bruised, muddy and it looked as if she had a fat lip.

"I said to freeze the claws, not that damn tail!" Ruby snapped back looking, somehow, even in worst shape then Weiss.

Ruby's top was hanging down around her waist with one leg completely missing and the other was probably what was wrapped around her chest, protecting her modesty. Not that she has much of either to begin with. Her belt was the only thing keeping her halfway dressed. Her gauntlets and choker were splattered with mud and probably blood as was her face and, well, most of her body. Her left eye was swelling and her nose looked a bit crooked.

"That Nevermore could have worked it's self-lose." Weiss said not acknowledging the stun looks from Yang and the other five students as they both walk past them to look over the relics.

"No, it won't have! My aim was perfect; besides getting impaled on the Death Stalker would have killed it eventually anyways."

"It is better to be safe than sorry, Ruby Rose."

"'Oh look at me, I am Weiss Schnee, am rich, I am beautiful, I don't know jack shit!'" Ruby mocked as she looked over at the heiress, "Which one do you want?"

"Which ever one you wish to choose is acceptable to me."

"Fine," Ruby picked up a gold knight and held it out for her partner. "And here is the horse you rode in on."

"Must you be so childish all the time," Weiss rolled her eyes as the two walked past the small group heading south, again without acknowledging their presences.

"I swear one day I am going to pull that stick out of your ass and beat you with it!"

Yang watched them hobble away with a knowing grin creeping across her face.

"So," Ren said slowly as the two girls walked out of ear shot. "Does anyone feel the need to find out what had happened to those two?"

"Um, no, I'm-I'm-I'm good." Jaune said as Pyrrha nodded in agreement.

"Ditto," Blake said.

"Hey," the tiny scream came from across the clearing. "What the hell? Get the lead out of your ass, you guys! We need to get back to the cliff to get this dumb thing done and over with."

"Yes, I am in desperate need of a shower."

"Or two!"

"In your dreams, Ruby Rose!"

"Is everything all right?" Blake asked Yang as the small group began hustling to catch up with the two girls who were already making the trek south.

"Yeah," Yang said with a huge grin, "I think everything is going to be good now."

* * *

Weiss Schnee walked quietly back to her dorm room, she had just finished a call to her sister, Winter, at the library and she was exhausted. Normally, a call to her sister on the CCCT was a joyful event for her, for Weiss never got to spend as much time with Winter as she would wish. However, the events of the past day had already strained her far more then she was willing to voice, even to herself, as well as listening to her sister lecture her; it wasn't helping her either.

And surprising to herself, Ruby wasn't the worst thing to happen all day. Even with their 'disagreement' out in the forest, Weiss found Ruby to be, while being a degenerate, immature, windbag with the vocabulary of a drunk sailor, she was, at least, an honest sort.

It has been less than a day since she had arrived at Beacon and already she has had several students make subtle, and not so subtle hints, to future alliances based on her influence and standing in the business world, thanks to her family.

Some of the inquires, such as Jaune's flirtation, was filed away has 'never' while others, she will have to exam more closely before agreeing to any kind of alliance. After all, a poor business partnership can doom all her hard work, as her sister had just spent a better part of their conversation reminding her.

By those rules in which the high society ran their petty lives, her partnership with Ruby should never occurred since Ruby had neither the family nor the connections that would further Weiss's own plans …

Yet …

Ruby was the only one who treated her as a person and not a stepping stone. Yes, she was loud, crude, rude, sarcastic little … bitch but she was also well aware of Weiss's family and wealth and she could care less. She was going to treat Weiss just like she treats everyone just because. Ruby stated several times this day that she will be a Huntress, so if you helped her or hinder her, it makes no difference, she will be one and on her own terms. And she had some serious power to back up her terms.

So far, this has all the signs of an unhealthy relationship, yet; she has treated Weiss as an ordinary person, something she had always had hoped for from others. So while it won't be easy, Weiss knew being partners and teammates with Ruby will be a test of her strength and resolve. If they can come to some kind of agreement and work out their differences, without killing each other first, they would be best team in Beacon.

Unlike most students at Beacon, there was usually one pair who was not included in the four man teams, for good or bad, Ruby and Weiss was this class odd man out. So how well they do, how far they come, it will be solely based on their own abilities to work as a team.

 _It is a relief actually, we could have been paired with Yang and Blake, what a disaster that would have been. Nevertheless, with Ruby's skills combine with my superior skills and intellect, we will rise to the top no matter what!_

And as Weiss opened the dorm door, she decided to revise her assumptions of Ruby as she was dancing around the room wearing nothing but a pair of white bikini panties and red headphones.

"Ruby!" Weiss snapped as the girl sang along with whatever song she was listening too.

Weiss had no idea to which action that was taking place at the moment was the worst to be subjected to, Ruby's attire or the very horror inducing singing voice. Being a trained singer, who has performed in front of sellout crowds, hearing Ruby alleged singing, just made her cringed. _Fingernails on a chalkboard,_ was the nicest thing Weiss could compare it to.

Trudging over to the red head, she tapped her on the shoulder, quietly enjoying watching the Ruby jumping in the air and turning around with a wide eye look of horror on her face. "Ruby! Have you no shame? What if I had someone with me!"

"What? I'm wearing underwear!" Ruby said pulling off her headphones and tossing them on her desk.

"I was speaking of your so-called singing."

"Oh, ha-ha, asshole."

"Speaking of which, you have no idea how thankful I am that you do have an understanding of underwear," Weiss said setting her scroll down on her pristine clean desk, unlike the already messy desk that Ruby had. "I wouldn't have guess from you attire earlier."

"Whatever," Ruby said as Weiss sat down on the lower bunk. "I like to be free, ya know."

 _Bunkbeds_ , Weiss had been flabbergasted when Ruby first suggested that they could save some space by making their bed into bunkbeds. Weiss was barely able to contain her unlady like squeal of excitement as Ruby explain her plan. Bunkbeds had been something she always wanted as a small child, when Winter and her shared a room but their father had forbidden it.

It took Ruby about an hour, after retrieving some power tools and material she had stored in the workshop area, to finish making the standard, non-stackable, beds, well, stackable. They were even able to convince Yang and Blake to help them lift up Ruby's mattress and box spring.

Ruby, to Weiss's amazement, actually offered to do the same for Yang, if she wanted one too. By Yang's expression, she was surprised as well, but declined the offer. Citing that Blake and herself had better things to do then sit in their rooms all day, so they wouldn't need as much space.

"Anyways," Ruby said grabbing her desk chair and sitting in it backward while sliding over to the beds. "The only rule we have agreed upon so far is calling ahead if you have anyone with you or if you have company with you in the room. So if you had called, I have a shirt and shorts on standby, I'm not a pervert, ya'know."

"Just a degenerate," Weiss said with a sarcastic sigh. "What makes you think I am comfortable with you running around without any clothing?"

"Panties are clothing," Ruby said with a raised eyebrow then said in a smug voice that was just made to be slapped. "Plus, the way you were ripping off my top earlier, I would say you wanted to see them pretty badly."

"Again, I wasn't trying to see your breast, you dummy, I was endeavoring to kill you."

"Yet, there I was, laying on the ground, topless and helpless."

"Yes, so helpless you tried to smash my head in with a large stick that you found somewhere."

"Fucking a right I did, you freaking broke my nose, Snowflake!"

"Only after you attempted to rip my hair off my head."

"Fair play in love and war and all rubbish." Ruby and Weiss glared at each other for a minute before Ruby's face relaxed enough to turn into a grin. "Have to say Snowflake, that was the best throw down I have been in, in a long time. You fight dirty, I like that."

"I'll admit that I have never fought that 'dirty', as you call it, before, but you seem to have the ability to bring out a side of me I was unaware of," Weiss let a sigh. "I am also glad that it happened in private. As teammates, we need to project an image of solidarity, as to avoid having others try to place wedges in our way."

"Yeah, and I'm sure you don't want to have a dorm full of boys ogling us topless either." Ruby said seriously as Weiss stood up to change into her night clothing. "You seeing me naked doesn't bother me as much as I thought it would. I always figure whoever I was partner with, it would have happened anyways, sooner or later, since we will be living together for next four years. I mean it happened a lot when I was younger but what hasn't change is my desire not to have the whole school seeing my goodies."

"Agreed, nor do I wish to be subjected to that fate as well. We must ensure that if we get to that point again, we retreat to a more private setting." Weiss said, then let out a sigh to add. "Of course, the best course of action would be to save that kind of discourse for our opponents but I fear our worst opponents are ourselves. Look, I know that I can be … difficult from time to time …"

"Can be?" Ruby asked with a giggle and ended up wearing Weiss shirt as a response. Pulling the shirt off her head, Ruby went on to say, "Okay, yeah, I can be a bitch sometimes, maybe." Weiss favored Ruby with a raised eyebrow as she finished pulling on her nightgown. "Fine, maybe most of the time."

"But I believe that we can … we will keep the big picture in view …" Weiss squatted down to look at Ruby's silver eyes. "We both want the same thing, to graduate as the best. The only thing standing in our way is us. If we fight among ourselves, we only harm ourselves."

"Four years isn't that long," Ruby nodded as she leans back but keeping her eyes on Weiss. "I will admit … I've been … on my own for a long time."

"As have I."

"So … I will make an extra effort not to treat you badly. I'm not going to kiss your ass, or follow you around like a little puppy, Schnee; so if you are expecting anything like that you can just kiss my tiny ass right now. If you are being an ass, I will fucking tell you that you are being an ass and in a way that will leave no doubt on how big of an ass you are being."

"I'm not expecting you to become an angel overnight either, dork. This will be acceptable as long as you remember that this is a partnership, I will expect to be treated as I treat you."

"Acceptable, as partners, not friends. Got it, Schnee? Partners. Don't expect me to go shopping, or play with your hair as we paint each other nails and talk about hunky boys. Nor am I going to be your 'wing man', you need a babbling idiot to help you get a boy in bed, find someone else. Got it?" Ruby stood up and held out her left hand. "Partners?"

"Partners," Weiss said with a smile. "I am glad we see things in the same light." Before Weiss could let go of Ruby's hand, the girl pulled her in closer, giving her a goofy grin. Rolling her eyes, Weiss said, "Ruby, I am tired."

"We just made a pack, we need to celebrate," Ruby pulled her across the room towards her desk.

"You smuggled in a bottle of wine?" Weiss asked, perking up a bit. Weiss was not much of a drinker, actually she had never been allowed much more than a half of glass at most parties, with handlers hovering nearby to make sure she didn't try anything rash, such as maybe enjoying herself.

"Wine? Really, Snowflake?" Ruby said spinning around, looking mortified. "Wine is for snobs, who wouldn't know a good time if it came up and licked them. You are with me now, and as your non-friend partner, we shall only and willingly drink rum. Rum is a real Huntress drink, grow hair on your chest, it will."

"Hasn't grown anything else on your chest."

"Oh ha-ha, Snowflake," Ruby sighed as she one-handed dug through a desk drawer.

"So you have this rum? I would prefer wine but rum would be acceptable." Weiss watch as Ruby prove to be as dexterous with her right hand as her left.

"No, sadly." Ruby said pulling out a pack of cigarettes out of the drawer as well as a lighter. "Smokes, I can buy; rum I need to bribe others to get me some."

"Wait," Weiss yelp as Ruby pulled her over to the window. "I thought I heard you say that Yang burned your last pack?"

"She did," Ruby finally let go of her hand to pull open the drapes and window. While climbing outside, Ruby went on to say, "I found this pack while unpacking. I guess I forgot I had it."

"Ruby! Put a shirt on! What if someone see you?" Weiss hissed as Ruby sat on the small ledge while patting a section next to herself. Weiss crawled out to sit next to her, both of them having their feet swinging out over the edge.

"Chill out, will ya. We are facing the airport, on a corner, on the fourth floor and hidden by a tree." Ruby stopped long enough to get the foul smelling weed lit. "They would have to go through a lot of trouble to get a glimpse of your little marbles."

"I'm not the one running around half naked. Why do you smoke anyways?"

Smirking, Ruby let out a cloud of smoke. "Honestly? I found out it pissed people off."

"I should have guess that on my own."

"Plus, it gave me something to do on those few times I got drunk since I refuse to play 'those games' with the boys I hung out with. If they got too pushy, I could burn them as well." Ruby held it out, Weiss took it without much resistance. "Take two small hits, just enough to get the end to glow."

"That is horrible," Weiss said coughing. "How do you stand it?"

"Takes some practice," Ruby grinned. "So? You ever get drunk?"

"No, I have had wine before at various functions, but my handlers always ensure I had only one half glass and it had to last me the evening."

"Sucky. So ever kiss?"

"A few boys, when our mutual handlers unbent enough to allow us. But it was mostly … well … almost … it was as If they allowed it to occur only because they thought we were a good social match not because we wished it."

"That blows."

"It did put a damper on any excitement of the moment," Weiss said taking the cigarette again. "You?"

"Never been kissed, no sexy games … nothing. Never found anybody that made me want to play that game."

There was a long comfortable silence as they smoke the cigarette before Weiss said, "Perhaps, you will find someone while you are here at Beacon?"

"I could say the same for you," Ruby gave her a toothy grin. "As for me, let's work on me not trying to kill you first. Then I worried about any other relationships. Okay, partner?"

Weiss gave her an answering grin, "As you wish, partner."

* * *

 _A/N: It has been a month and seven chapters, I have so far gathered 58 alerts, 34 favs, 17 reviews and 2,444 views. Thank you all for your support! Even a hack like me enjoys knowing that I can write something others enjoy. I hope that as the story progresses I can keep your interest. Thank you again._


	8. Chapter 8

"She is the worst partner, ever! Of all time!"

Blake looked up from her breakfast to see Ruby Rose sitting down across from her and her partner Yang. Yang, who was sitting on Blake's left, let out a sigh while rolling her eyes, "It's only been four days Ruby, you need to give her a chance."

"'Give her a chance'," Ruby said mocking Yang's voice and hair toss. "Pffth! She is hopeless, I tell you, hopeless."

"You are making this out to be bigger deal than it is," the target of Ruby's ire sat down next to the younger red head while nodding politely to the rest of the table. "Good morning everyone."

"So what is going on?" Blake asked, trying to be polite as Pyrrha and Yang answered Weiss. Blake assumed that the Schnee was being … well … a Schnee; arrogant, pushy and generally thinking she doesn't have to obey the rules others are required to follow. However, this was Ruby, so …

So Blake got a small shock when Ruby grabbed a strip of bacon off Weiss's tray and pointed at her partner while saying, "You're seventeen, Snowflake, how can you _not_ have your vehicle operator license?"

"Wait? What?" Blake asked, blinking in surprise as Weiss gave the table a look of long suffering while slowly, and methodically, chewing her breakfast.

"That's what I said, Blake." Ruby said, not bothering to finish chewing on her stolen piece of beacon before speaking. "Come on, I know she is all rich and things, and probably have a billzion drivers at her beck and call but not to have her VOL after turning 16 is just … so fucking bizarre!"

"What is so strange about not having her license," Blake asked honestly. "I don't have mine either?"

"You're joking, right?" Ruby was so shocked by Blake's words; she doesn't seem to notice Weiss snatching her apple slice out of her hand. "How do you plan on getting around to do actual hunts without a VOL?"

"Hey, we have some of the best public transportation in the world, Ruby." Jaune said smugly, as if he was personally responsible for the trains running on time while sitting down in between Pyrrha and Blake.

"Well, yeah, sure, but what about outside the walls? How do you plan on getting around then?" Ruby asked while waving another piece of apple around.

"As full fledge Hunters, we have access to a wide variety of air craft to use beyond the wall." Ren said softly as Weiss snatch another apple away from the distracted Ruby, again.

Ruby pick up one of the two scrolls that Weiss was checking and sarcastically, although to Blake, it was also kind of amusing, saying "Yes, I am available for a hunt. Where? When? Oh gosh, darn it. The 8:15 just left, can you hold off for another hour? I should be able to get on that flight, lickedy split."

"Stop being a pest," Weiss snapped taking back her scroll. "And as I explained to you earlier, I will get my VOL before I graduate."

"Doesn't help me right now," Ruby grumbled as she absently chewed on a piece of bacon.

"How would Weiss having a VOL help you out? It's not as if she has a vehicle here anyways." Blake watched Weiss give her a look of annoyance while Ruby grinned … evilly. Blake suddenly felt as if she didn't want to know the answer.

"She doesn't …however … someone close to her does," Ruby said slyly with a grin Blake did not trust … at all.

"Doesn't matter anyways, does it?" Yang asked, slurping up the milk through a straw. "I know you and you won't let anyone drive your bike."

"Why would she need a VOL for a bike anyways? I had one when I was a kid, even had a little bell on the handle bars …" Jaune asked, then hunched down as Blake and the others gave him a look. "What?"

"Skipping the obvious question on how you were able to afford to have a motorcycle, aka a 'bike'", Blake said shaking her head at Jaune as she turns back to Ruby, who now sat there with a look of rap attention, with a just a hint of concern, on her face and her hands folded in front of her on the table. "Why would you wish to have such a contraption in the first place? They are extremely dangerous vehicles with no room for error. Only the most deranged, immature, thrill seeker, whom has no concept or concern for the danger he or she faces every second while they sit on that rolling death trap would wish to own one. Only someone with a death wish would …" Blake put her hand on her forehead, closing her eyes, she finished by saying, "Yang has one, doesn't she?"

"You better believe it, Blake." Yang said in her standard, cheerfully voice as she wrapped an arm around her shoulders. "Custom made by me, with Ruby's help, as well as my dad. Dad is transporting it over this weekend, in fact, so I can ride it on my off days. I am now duty bound to take you around the block, partner, to prove to you how safe it really is."

"You have my sympathies," Weiss told her as she checks both of her scrolls.

"Why would you …" Blake started to say but was cut off by her team leader slamming his tray down beside Yang.

"Good morning everyone," Steve said with a grin.

Steve then tipped a wink at the white hair heiress who appeared to be studying her scrolls and barely nodded in his direction as he called her 'Snow Angel'. When he made eye contact with Ruby, he narrowed his eyes and sneer at her. Neither Chris, their other teammate, or Steve, wanted anything to do with Ruby, citing that she was unfit to be able to attend a school like Beacon. Chris even went as far as to refuse to eat with them if she was present.

"I don't understand Yang, why would you want to ride one of those things," Blake started to asked, again, but was cut off this time by a screech coming from a couple tables over.

She glances over to see one of her fellow classmates being bullied by a humanist called Cardin Winchester. Cardin and his three bullies was taunting and laughing at the rabbit fauna named Velvet. The same girl who had tested Ruby at the trials.

"Disgraceful," Weiss said softly, which surprise Blake, she had assumed Weiss wouldn't care about Velvet.

"Why isn't she defending herself," Ruby asked so quietly Blake had trouble hearing her.

"Even you should know that answer, Rose," Steve said dismissively as he dug into his breakfast, missing Ruby flipping him the bird without taking her eyes off of Velvet. "No matter how much people wish it wasn't true, the sad fact is Fauna just isn't up to the challenge."

"Excuse me?" Blake ask her leader, trying to keep her voice even. She had hoped being here at Beacon she could get away from this small minded thinking. However, it seemed that even here, she would be subject to hatred and racism, and apparently by her own team. She should have known better, if the Schnee was …

"Yes, what a sad day it was when we took off their chains," Weiss said so dryly, she could have been a desert, throwing Blake's thoughts into confusion.

"I wouldn't go that far, Miss Schnee," Steve said hesitantly, as if he was also confused by Weiss's tone. "It isn't their fault that they have neither the mental or physical compactly to measure up to humans. Slavery was wrong but so is setting them up for failure by allowing them to believe the myth that they are equal to humans."

"Bigotry disguised as concern is still bigotry, Mr. Faunte," Weiss Schnee, the heiress to the greatest example of the evil corporations in the world said with a dismissive wave of her hand. "So spare me your self-deceptive excuses, I have heard them many times before and by those who claim to be the smartest people in the world. If the Fauna has a whole was as unintelligent and cowardly as many of your kind profess, then why do we have the threat of the White Fang hanging over our heads?"

"Ooh, using logic, so wickedly unfair of you, Snowflake."

Ruby let out a giggle as Weiss shot her a look of strained annoyance, which might have been fake, but Blake wasn't as sure anymore since she wasn't sure about her abilities in reading Schnee any longer. It took only seconds to totally make Blake question every assumption she had had about the white hair girl.

Pyrrha jumped into the conversation with both feet by saying, "Regardless of where you stand on the Fauna Rights, and how incredibly wrong _certain_ people are about the fauna; Cardin is supposed to be a Hunter. He should not be performing as if he was some ruffian on a street corner, trying to steal from little old ladies who happen to be walking by."

"I wonder why isn't her team helping her defending herself?" Yang asked.

"Perhaps she is more concern with the repercussion from the school," Blake suggested, knowing full well that she could easily handle whatever Cardin threw at her. Especially, after watching her fight Ruby at the trials. Still, the sad truth was when a fauna fights a human, no matter how justified, was always assumed to be the instigator and never the victim.

"Or maybe she knows her limitation," Steve said easily.

"Hey, look guys, I was wrong; they are real," they all heard Cardin snicker as he pulled on her ears. His team and him laughed loudly as Velvet struggled and cried, trying to get out of his grip.

"Disgusting," Weiss repeated as Velvet finally was able to wiggle loose and ran, in tears, from the dining hall.

"And yet, not surprising," Steve said sadly.

"I meant his actions," Weiss said in a frosty tone.

"Now, Miss Schnee; he is just messing around, he probably doesn't mean any real harm …"

"Oh yes, the old mistaken believe that 'boys will be boys' and they will one day grow up; no doubt the …"

"Hey, I'll meet you outside, Snowflake," Ruby rudely interrupting by giving her partner a shoulder bump and then patting Weiss on the head as she walked away.

"Take your tray with you … get back here and … I am not your maid, Rose!" Weiss huffed as Ruby sauntered away, she seemed to be swinging her hips a bit more than usual. "And you left your shoes behind, again!" Weiss snapped out as Blake heard her slamming things down on the trays. Blake for her part, was watching Ruby's path through the dining hall. Ruby seems to be working her way over to Cardin's table, instead of heading directly outside. "I swear; it is like living with a three-year-old somedays."

Blake smirked at Weiss and was about to make a comment when, out of the corner of her eye, she saw Ruby give anyone watching two large hip swings and then she spun on her stocking feet and grabbed Cardin by the head.

"Hey guys, you were right, his ears are real!" Ruby shouted over the blood curling screaming coming from Cardin. She hung on to him even as he tried to stand, not easy as he was a full head taller than her. By using her body as leverage, however, she was able to pressure him to bend over and force him to the ground.

And screaming the whole time.

"Oh bloody … Yang!" Weiss snapped as the whole table stood up.

"On it," Yang sang out as she sped up her walk to get ahead of the rest of the gang.

"You little bitch!" Cardin snapped as he finally wiggled loose. Ruby, smirking, lowered herself in to a combat stance as he advanced on her. "I'm going to enjoy beating the shit out of you."

"Yeah, you and what army-y-y-y," Ruby yelped as Yang scooped her up and threw her over her shoulders, heading towards the exit. "Hey! God damn-nit, put me down you, you -you oversize walking mammary gland!"

Weiss, for her part, threw up a glyph, slamming it into Cardin, stopping him from following her partner. "Stop right there, Cardin."

"What the hell is wrong with that kid?" Cardin yelled, his face staying red from anger. "Did you see her attack me? It is about time someone taught that spaz a lesson."

"Just chill out, Cardin," Steve said holding up his hands and stepping up in front of him, with Blake and Weiss behind him. "No harm was done …"

"That's bullshit, Steve, and you know it. That little slut tries to pull my ears off and you say no harm done?"

"Like you did to Velvet?" Blake growled out.

"Me and the boys were just having a bit of fun, Blake, no one important was harmed." Cardin all but spits out as he tried to loom over Blake.

"So was she, apparently," Blake said, refusing to be intimated. "Since no one 'important' was harmed."

"Blake," Steve hissed before returning to Cardin. "Look, we will deal with her, okay?"

"I will deal with this myself. After all, you only give a dog one shot at biting you, then you put it down."

"I agree," Weiss said pushing her way forward. "However, you will stay away from Ruby. I need her to graduate and I don't have the time to find a hole to hide you broken, bloody carcass."

"Cute, really funny Schnee. Whatever, you guys want to protect the stupid bitch, fine. But if she gets in my way again, I will take care of this my way."


	9. Chapter 9

Weiss made her way down to the underbelly of Beacon, the section of the complex that she was the least familiar with, for now. Since her partner was Ruby, she just knew in her gut that the motor pool was going to be an area she will get to know as well as the library, regardless of her own desire. Even before she entered the vehicle maintenance bay, she could hear the sounds of some kind of machinery running.

"Are you lost missy?" A large, dog like, fauna asked her as she stopped to look around the large open space before her. "Not many of you student types normally come down here."

"I am looking for my partner, Ruby Rose. I am unable to locate her anywhere else on campus, so I figure I would check down here since she has stated that she rather enjoys … well, whatever it is she enjoys doing down here."

"Aye, she is here." He jerked his hand over his shoulder while giving her a toothy grin. "The little volcano is down in bay four," a large crash coming from that direction interrupted him as a piece of shiny metal came tumbling out of the bay in question. With a smirk, he went on as if nothing happened, "She is in a bit of a mood this afternoon, just to let you know."

"Yes," Weiss said with a sigh as more crashes came from the aforementioned bay. "However, she is my teammate and thus …"

"Aye, I understand."

"Thank you for your assistance Mr. …"

"Colin, James Colin at your service, Miss Schnee. I run the vehicle bay as well as teach a few courses, mostly on the proper upkeep on vehicles and emergency repairs."

"Oh sorry professor, I wasn't … I don't recall seeing those courses in the course catalog."

He let out a rich laugh that made it hard for Weiss to maintain her neutral demeanor. He waved his massive hand forward and walked with her to bay four. "No, just Mr. is fine, no fancy titles for me, lass. I'm more of a part time instructor when I am not repairing the school equipment. You would be amazed at what a bunch of novices can do to a van or truck or even a bullhead when they take them off school property for a trial hunt. Anyways, I mostly teach 3rd and 4th year students, with just enough information and skills to give them an appreciation of how screwed they are when they break down in the middle of nowhere."

"Anyways, you won't find my classes in the catalog, they are not required for graduation and you first two years are so loaded already, we usually don't mention them until your pre-third year evaluations."

"Are your classes well attended?"

"Sadly, no. Only about 5 percent of each class sign up, it is like 'wilderness survive' class, something else you will learn about during your evaluation. Most young Hunters assume that repairs is something they won't ever be bothered with since they live in the cities. Although, you would be surprise how many come back within their first couple years out in the real world asking if they can take the class." They stopped outside the bay, Weiss saw her red headed partner bent over some kind of machine, sparks flying up in the air around her, as she held a piece of metal up against a spinning disk. "Hey, firecracker, your buddy is here."

Ruby turned and glared at Weiss from behind the clear goggles she wore over her eyes. Weiss stared blankly back at her, having withstood harsher glares then Ruby could ever hope to make. Although, Weiss was struggling not to make a comment about Ruby actually using her head and wearing safety footwear instead of going barefoot as was her norm. _Full body mechanic's coveralls, safety boots, gloves, a ball cap; a side of Ruby I have never seen before,_ Weiss thought as the still glaring Ruby shouted over the machinery, "When can I use the forge?"

"I said, I will check you out on it next week, kiddo, keep your shirt on will ya. You're going to be around for the next four years you know." He gave Weiss another wink as he started to walk away, "I'm leaving for the weekend in an hour. Make sure you clean up before you leave and no using any of the heavy equipment till I get back on Monday. You kids go have fun this weekend, yawl hear."

"Thank you again, Mr. Colin." Weiss said as Ruby told him to drink one for her.

Weiss stood quietly at the entrance as Ruby shut down whatever she was working on. Ruby slipped off her gloves and goggles, slapping them down hard on a work bench before she spun around, arms crossed and glared back at Weiss. They stood there for a good three minutes before Weiss raised one eyebrow at her partner who let out a sigh and rolled her eyes dramatically.

Grabbing a stool from under a workbench, Ruby set it down in the middle of the bay, next to something under a canvas cover, Weiss presumed it was her motorcycle, and slapped the seat, letting Weiss know it was for her, as she walked back outside to grab another stool from another bay. As Weiss sat down, Ruby set down her seat and scooted as closely to Weiss as she could and lean forward to glare some more. Weiss stared back blandly, for just a second, her eyes went down and she realized just how loose fitting her buddy's clothing was.

With a smirk, Weiss asked, "If this is your idea of a distraction, I must inform you that it is a rather small but an effective one. Although, as lovely of a distraction that it is, a fact I'm willing to point out, but sadly, the main flaw in your plan is the fact there is not much to work with, is there?"

Ruby went from angry, to confused, to looking down and then struggling to keep her face straight as she snorted couple times before saying, "I'm mad at you."

"I know."

"So don't make me laugh while I am mad at you."

"I am sorry," Weiss said sincerely, before smirking again. "They're just so cute …"

To Weiss surprise, Ruby actually started blushing. Wearing a half smile, she sat up straight to make sure her suit was fully zipped up to her neck. Weiss couldn't help letting out a small giggle at Ruby's actions, which just made Ruby struggle to keep the smirk off her own lips. "Okay, stop it. I am trying very hard to stay mad at you right now."

"I know."

"And I can't do that if you are making me laugh."

"I know; it is just … I have never seen you blush before."

"You just … caught me off guard, that is all. I'm supposed to be the degenerate one, remember?" Ruby placed her hands on her knees and lean forward again, and said, "I am mad at you."

"Yes, I believe we have already establish that point."

"And?" Ruby asked after a lengthy pause.

"And?"

"This is the part where you say 'Sorry Ruby, I will never do anything like that again'."

"When we agree to this partnership," Weiss said sitting up straight, placing her own hands on her crossed knees and adopting her most serious look. "You informed me that you were reserving the right to inform me that I was being 'an ass', I also retain that right as well, Ruby."

"I wasn't the one being an ass, Schnee, that asshole Cardin was the one being a jerk. All I was going to do was make sure he understood not everyone was going to put up with his shit."

"Picking a fight with him is not the way to do it, Ruby. There would have been dire consequences to your actions."

"Grimm shit, I would have wipe the floor with his face. Or do think that POS would have had a chance against me? Because if you do, I'll …"

"Do not be ignorant, of course you would've," Weiss said with snort. "I had no doubts about who would have been victorious in any fight between you two. I am taking about after your victory. The rules are very clear; 'No student will incite or allow or accommodate or participate in a non-sanctioned physical altercation with another student on and off campus'. The only exception to that code is one of self-defense."

"Oh, I see. So you're saying I should just let him go around breaking the rules without getting any shit for it?"

"I am saying there were alternative solutions we could have explored before we allow you to splatter him in the dining hall."

Ruby leaned forward, wrapping her arms around Weiss's neck, pulling her slightly forward until they were touching foreheads. "You mean we should have sat down with him over a cup of tea and ask him sweetly not to be a biggie meanie poopy head?"

"You are determined to be difficult about this, aren't you?" Weiss didn't even flinch as she stared back.

"He is a bully Snowflake, the only thing he understands is a fist up side his ugly face."

"Well, then Miss Kettle, I am pleased to introduce you to Mr. Pot." Weiss smiled sweetly as Ruby jerked back.

"Kiss my rear, Snowflake, I'm not a bully …"

"And yet, the first and only solution you see is to employ violence …"

"And you have a better idea? Well, spill it, tell me, what is this brilliant idea of yours that would have dealt with that ass while also teaching him a lesson?"

"…"

"What was that? Could you speak up a bit, I can't hear you over all this silence."

"We could have, as partners," Weiss growled out. "We could have found another solution if you hadn't gone off on your own."

"I found a solution until you sent Captain Super-boobs to carry me off like a sack of potatoes."

"And you would have been expelled if I hadn't."

"So would Cardin!"

"Oh Bravo!" Weiss said giving her friend a slow, mocking clap. "Take a bow, General Rose. You won an insignificant skirmish and yet lost the war."

"Oh, fuck you." Ruby said getting up and storming over to her work bench.

"Not tonight if you keep this up," Weiss snapped back as Ruby started wiping down some tools.

"So what do you want from me," Ruby said after a long pause while maintaining her work on her tools

"I want you to … just … take a moment," Weiss said after her own pause. Getting up from her seat, she walked over towards Ruby and she almost reached out to touch her shoulders. She stopped herself, barely, instead reached out with her left hand and slowly turn Ruby, who wasn't fighting her, around to look at her. "Remember, we are a team. What you do reflects on me and vice verses; we are alone here, my friend, it is us vs this entire school. I'm trying to network, trying to figure out who we can trust and who we should avoid. It is difficult enough due to both of us having such … colorful histories."

"And when you go flying off the handle like you did, your actions only increase the difficulty for us. Cardin isn't as well like as he wishes to believe but even Yang and Blake, our only strongest supporters, are not as comfortable with you actions as I would wish them to be."

"Fuck Yang …"

"No thank you, you are more than enough of handful for anyone. And their concerns are only known to me; publicly, they both said he had it coming to him. Team JNPR is also publicly supporting us, citing he is racist bully who deserve what he received. There are other students who don't support him, however, they also didn't enjoy how you went out of your way to humiliate him either."

"I don't care, I was right!"

"No, you weren't!"

"Yes! I was! He was being a dick to Velvet …"

"She had already left the room! If Cardin had followed her or held her against her will, then yes, your action would have been justified." Weiss said rubbing her forehead, wondering how someone so smart could be so stupid. "Had you step in and yanked his ears off while he was tugging on hers', you would have been justified in most everyone's eyes."

"Oh, so you are against me too!"

"Ruby!" Weiss said physically pushing her back against the work bench, slamming her arms down on the table top, pinning the younger girl in place as the two girls glared at each other. Weiss allowed a quick, annoying thought cross her mind about Ruby wearing boots and how close in height they were while she was wearing those boots. "Will you shut up for one minute and hear what I am saying. I agree with you, dolt! Cardin is an ass, a racist and a bully, nevertheless, no matter how enjoyable it was seeing him get his just reward, your execution was flawed. Any potential allies we could have gathered putting Cardin in his place are now going to be harder to court because you look to be as big of an as ass as he is."

"Come on, I was right. Why should I care what anyone else thinks? I'm not going to stop just doing the right thing just because it isn't the popular thing at the moment!"

"Ruby," Weiss said tiredly as she gently lean forward till their foreheads touched. "You are the most amazing honest soul I have ever met. Your code of honor, your ability to be so strong in the face of everything … I truly hope you never lose that part of you." Weiss open her eyes and stared hard into the silver globes before her. "For you, just about everything is black and white. And for you, that works because I know that you don't just blindly pick a side but because you evaluate and judge things on their own merits and then go with your gut."

"Ruby, most of the world does _not_ work that way. And you need to understand that, I am not saying you have to act as everyone else does but just acknowledge that they do. Can we agree on that at least?"

"Maybe …"

"Then will you allow me, who had been forced all my life to evaluate people based not on their moral code but by their usefulness, to ask you to trust me on this part. We will need allies …"

"But why? No, stop rolling your eyes and listen, I really don't get it. You and me, the most awesome team ever, we don't need other people. We don't need to kiss ass to have others like us. I did okay for years on my own …"

"And how much trouble would you have avoided if you had someone watching your back?"

"Well … that why I have you here … right?"

"And that is what I am trying to do, for both of us. Still, no matter how great we are, there are still things that we need help on. Like this morning for instance, I wouldn't have been able to stop you fighting as effectively as Yang. We are lucky that Yang thinks of you as family even after all the years of knowing you."

"You're not helping your case."

"Fine, look, what would have happened if you were allow to fight Cardin this morning?"

"I would have kicked his ass."

"Clearly and then what?"

"What?"

"What then? What the hell would you have done after being expelled?

"I-I-I …chance are I wouldn't have been expelled …"

"Breaking that rule is grounds for expulsion. I would remain standing at your side but my voice would have been a pebble being dropped in a rock quarry. Now you are expelled …"

"They wouldn't just kick me out … right?" For the first time, Ruby sounded hesitant, as if she was unsure of her answer.

"Why not? This is not your orphanage, Ruby, they are not required to protect and feed you. By the laws of this Kingdom, you are an adult now. You are sololy responsible for your action and will reap or suffer the consequences of your actions, just like the rest of us." Weiss said, ticking off points from her left hand. "You no longer have a guardian or even a case worker to intercede on your behalf, all you have is yourself. And me as well. So if you got expelled, then what?"

"Fine, if I get kicked out … guess … take my bike," Ruby said pointing to the covered vehicle. "And do what I was born to do; go out protect the people by killing every single Grimm I can find."

"Predictable," Weiss nodded, crossing her arms while turning to lean against the table. "And what will you do for food?"

"What do you mean? Go to the grocery store, duh."

"What will use for liens? Or you going to steal your dinner?"

'What? No, I don't steal. And I have some liens in the bank …"

"And dust? Dust is expensive, I should know."

"Well, yeah but …"

"Clothing? Lodging? Your cigarettes and rum, how long will you have the liens to last the rest of your life?"

"No, but …"

"So while you are out there, alone, with no one watching your back, killing Grimm by the hundreds … how do you expect to get paid?" Weiss looked over at Ruby who was glaring at her while she tapped her fingers on the table top. Weiss gave her reluctant friend a small smile, "Without a license, you won't get Hunter's pay, will you?" Turning so she could lean her stomach against the table, Weiss gave her a smirk. "Sooner or later, you will need supplies, sooner or later, you will need help; and who will you turn to for help? Who will you turn into to survive?"

"Into a monster," Ruby said quietly as she turned around to lean against the table next to Weiss, who was blinking in response to Ruby's answer. "Probably started working for questionable people, then starting down the spiral of crime till…" Ruby let out a sight, "Fine, you … maybe this one time … maybe … you have a better handle … shit, don't make me say it."

"You might as well get use to saying it, I am sure you will have lots of opportunities telling me the same thing in the future."

"You're a fucking whore, you know that Snowflake, don't you?"

"Do not be mad at me because the facts are in my favor." Weiss smiled then cringed as a new voice echoed in the vehicle bay.

"Miss Rose!" Professor Goodwitch's voice and distinct heel clicks bounce off the walls, sounding like the marching tune to the gallows.

"Well." Ruby whispered out as they both locked eyes on each other. "Shit."


	10. Chapter 10

"Hi, honey, I'm home," Ruby smirked as she started taking off her school uniform even before she slams closed the dorm room door.

"I am not your 'honey," her irate sounding partner said from the bathroom as Ruby tossed her dirty clothes in her hamper. Ruby smirked again as she walked in the bathroom to shower as Weiss asked, "How did your meeting go with Professor Goodwich?"

"You know you do have a rocking, good body," Ruby said to Weiss's reflection in the mirror while she continued to brush her hair. Ruby was kind of surprise Weiss was allowing her to see her standing there naked. So surprised that Ruby had to struggle hiding her grin; even though it has been only a few days, Ruby was happy that she was finally having a good influence on her roommate. "Although, it is not as tight as mine," Ruby did several poses and flexed her muscles as the reflection showed Weiss rolling her eyes. "Still, you shouldn't hide it behind all those clothes."

"Ah, yes," Weiss said turning around, giving Ruby a look of real irritation and not the fake one she normally shows. "Instead of having boys fighting for my attention due to my wealth, let's add in more boys to the mixture whom are only interested in trying to sleep with me as well. Thank you but no."

"I wear less then you and I never have that trouble," Ruby shot back as she stepped into the shower to turn it on, briefly wondered why she only need a bottle of body soap and shampoo while Weiss seemed to have enough different bottles, she could open a store.

"When you finally reach puberty, I'm sure you will understand."

"We are the same size, Snowflake," Ruby shot back as she quickly used the shower.

"Yes, but your immaturity outshines everything else."

"What you call immature, others would call 'being free spirited and fun'."

"Except, Ruby, the only time you are actually being 'free spirited' and having fun is when you are filling a Grimm full of holes from your weapon." Weiss said as Ruby shut off the shower. It was the one advantage she had over her partner, having short hair and only one bottle of soap, she could shower in less time than it took Weiss to undress. "Now, what did Professor Goodwitch have to say about your altercation earlier?"

Ruby jumped out of the shower, ran over and gave Weiss a hug from behind. Looking in to the mirror, she saw Weiss's eyes go wide before they narrowed at her. Smirking, Ruby said, "Do you know how lucky I am to have someone who 'gets me' like you do?"

"Ruby, you are getting me wet."

"I bet I am," she teases Weiss back.

"Ruby, you are very wet."

"Oh, and how can you tell, hmm?"

"Because you just got out of the shower, dunce. And no physical touching while one or both of us are naked." Weiss said while lightly trying to pull Ruby's arms away from her stomach.

"Aw, but you also said no hugging while we're dressed either." Ruby tease while giving Weiss a pair of sad eyes, which by her expression, Weiss didn't believe her lying eyes just as Ruby didn't think Weiss's annoyance was real.

"Sensing a pattern, are we?" Weiss gave her a sigh and swatted away Ruby's hand. "And there is nothing sticking up there, so stop feeling for one."

"There is one and I will pull it out of your ass one day," Ruby stuck her tongue out as she grabbed her towel.

"Not before you tell me what Professor Goodwitch said in your meeting?"

"Basically the same thing you were saying," Ruby grimaced as she wiped down Weiss's back as Weiss resumed brushing her hair. "So whatever, you win a hundred fucking brownie points. Happy now? She also said that she has had a discussion with Cardin before she came to get me and told him the same thing."

"What type of punishment was dealt out?" Weiss asked as Ruby dried herself.

"She is going to make an example out of us, apparently this isn't as uncommon as we assumed. Ostensibly, they have students go after each other at least once in their first year. Normally, it usually happens after we been around each other for least a month. When I pointed out it was just another example of my advance abilities, I swore the room temp dropped 100 degrees. You, my partner, you could learn a thing or two about glaring from her."

"If that is what it takes to keep you in line, I will have to make some inquiries."

"Cute. So, essentially, Cardin and I had just volunteered ourselves to be the first students to spar each other at the first combat class Monday morning."

"Explain?" Weiss asked placing her brush on the small counter while Ruby just fluffed out her hair, she never did much more than that in the morning anyways. "Have you tried gel?"

"Only use gel on very special occasions. From what Gyldia told me, when students get to the point that they want to smash someone's face in, they can request to use the sparing session to help eradicate any lingering feeling of hostility. Evidently, housing a bunch of teenagers and adults who have trained their whole lives to beat the shit out of Grimm can cause a few problems with interpersonal relationships among the student body." Ruby recited as she walked out to their sleeping area then came to a full stop, causing Weiss to walk into her. "Why are your clothes hang on my bunk?"

"We are going out this evening …"

"Weiss, you taking me out for a date?" spinning around and throwing her arms up to block the doorway, a wide eye, goofy grinning Ruby went on a rambling talk. "This is so sudden, so impulsive, so surprising. I have no idea what to say! Or to think! Granted, I'm not sure if you are my type or not, yet, but that is not as important as the fact you're becoming an almost real live teenager! Imagine what you will like after spending four years around me?"

"Disowned, no doubt." Weiss said deadpan and with an elegant raised eyebrow, "No, we are not going on a date, we are, however, are going to spend the evening in town with Blake and Yang …"

"Wow … talk about being a buzz kill, Weiss; I had so much hope for you."

"As well as Team JNPR," Weiss said pushing Ruby out of the doorway.

"No."

"Yes. As I stated earlier, we need allies. All six individuals are in our camp; I would like to shore up that core support as well as get to know them better. Going out to eat and take in a movie, as a group, will give us ample time to get to know them better."

"Even Jaune?"

"Sadly yes, he is the team leader of JNPR."

"Nope, I'm not going. This is not my idea of a fun night."

"Yes, you are going. For one, they are expecting you and it would be rude to back out now."

"I don't remember agreeing to this …"

"Two, need I remind you that we need allies …"

"Find, you go and I'll stay here and have fun by myself."

"Ruby, why must you be difficult in everything …"

"I'm not being difficult!"

"Yes, you are."

"No, I am not!"

"Yes."

"No, no, no."

"Yes, yes, and um … I believe the answer to your query is, yes."

"Oh, now I see what is really going on here! Look, I told you before, if you want to get in Jaune's pants, find some other wing girl." Ruby stomped over to a very crossed looking heiress who was holding up a black skirt. "And I don't wear dresses."

"Please," Weiss held the skirt out for Ruby, who snatched it out of Weiss hands, and tried it on, without looking at it very hard. "If I become so desperate for human companionship as to sleep with him; you have my permission, nay, my everlasting gratitude, to end my existence in any manner you wish. Does that fit?"

"Oh, hell no, when you get that desperate, I'll let you live, just so I can watch you suffer and enjoy every wretched second of it." Ruby twisted over to the full length mirror to see how the micro black skirt looked on her. _Holy shit, this is a very micro … is she a closet freak?_ "It's … ah … a bit shorter then I would have guess from you, Weiss."

"I purchased it on a whim, although, I have never found an occasion in which to wear it." Weiss brought over a piece of netting. "Do you like the skirt?" Ruby held her breath as she shot a confident look back at Weiss, the skirt was a bit short even for her, way shorter then Ruby would ever buy on her own, if she ever bothered buying skirts and such. Nevertheless, Ruby stubbornly refuse to admit that to Weiss. "This is the top I purchased for that skirt."

The net that Weiss had been holding turned out to be a sheer top, like the mesh that Ruby had on the outline of her body socks. Unlike her body socks, the entire top was see thru except a small black material that covered her upper body lady parts. The shirt, if one could call it a shirt, was long sleeve, yet was off both shoulders and came down only to her belly button. _I look like a slut,_ was Ruby's first thought as she twisted around to look at it. _Damn hot looking slut but still!_

"I must admit, it does looks good on you, perhaps better on you then on me since you have a more define muscle tone," Weiss said deadpan as Ruby realized that there was no way she could wear a bra with this so-called shirt unless she wanted to look like a loser, cowardly dweeb.

"Of course, I make it look good. When are you going to learn, Snowflake? I make anything look good." Ruby snapped, trying hard not to cringe. Even if she was at a complete lost as to why anyone would want to wear anything like this in public, she wasn't going to admit it out loud, not now, not to her.

"I stand corrected," Weiss said deadpan but then unbent enough to grin. "Alright, take it off; we shall find something more appropriate for you to wear."

"What?"

"I wasn't serious about you wearing … _that_ … in public, I was only being flippant. I had purchased it on a whim but never wore it myself. I seriously doubt any woman would willingly wear that outfit in public or even have the desire too. The only reason I still have it because I didn't want any of the maids snooping around my old room, finding it and reporting it to my father. He would have had not only my head but he would track down the handler who failed to notice my purchase and make her life a miserable for all time. Now, come along and we will find something more appropriate for someone your age to wear, something less risqué." Weiss must had missed Ruby's look as she turned back to her pile of clothing. "We are fortunate that our sizes are compatible."

"What? No way, Jose."

"What?" Weiss looked back, still grinning.

"Just because you are too cowardly to wear it, doesn't mean I am." Ruby threw her 'stubborn' mode into full operation. "I like this outfit and I want to wear it."

"Ruby," Weiss lost her grin and put on her 'don't argue with me' face.

"Don't give that look," Ruby crossed her arms and stared down the older girl. "Maybe I like this look. I think it makes me look … um …?"

"Like a streetwalker?"

"Older, more mature … daring."

"You look like a kid who is play dress up with her mom's clothing."

"Fuck you. Just because you don't have the balls to be anything but boring …"

"Truly, I must have an answer as to why must you always be confrontational about everything?"

"Why are you?"

"I am not being …," Weiss cut herself off by throwing up her hands. "Fine, do as you wish, far be it for me to make any helpful suggestions that will keep you from being arrested by the local police for prostitution." Ruby gave her a smug smile as Weiss grabbed her own underwear from her bunk. "I assume you will be san undergarments, as is your norm?"

"Of course," Ruby said with more confidence then she felt but she heard a challenge in Weiss question and she will be damn if she was going to let Weiss win. "It's Friday night, time to cut loose and be free."

"Then please wash it before you return it," Weiss said while pulling on a garter belt.

Ruby watch Weiss for a second before an evil smile crossed her lips. "I propose a new rule."

"What?" Weiss asked suspiciously, stopping herself from pulling on her hose, as Ruby knelt down in front of her.

"Rule 13."

"Ruby, we have to get ready …"

"They can wait, anyways, I am already ready. Thanks to the best uptight wanker in the whole wide world, whom I am now starting to think is a closet degenerate."

"You are the only degenerate on this team, perhaps this entire school." Weiss snapped as she finished pulling on her hose. "And you still have to pick out a pair of heals to wear."

"No!"

"Yes!"

"Fuck you, I hate shoes! I can go barefoot."

"No!"

"Yes!"

"Ruby!" Weiss growled as she stood up. "We are going to an adult restaurant. Not one where you tell some idiot in a paper crown how you want your burger done your way. Real restaurants have a dress code and shoes are the minimum requirement to enter."

"Fucking hell … fine how about your black flats?"

"Heals would be better with that dress, it would show off your legs better."

"No heals!"

"Yes! Now grow up, Ruby! Ever young lady should know how to be graceful and … wait. Sorry, forgot who I was talking to. I should just be happy you know how to use eating utensils."

"Kiss my ass Schnee."

"Fine, flats are acceptable. Now can we allow me to finish getting ready?"

"First, proposed Rule 13."

"If it will make you happy and allow me to finish getting dress."

"On nights in which we are not on duty; you can't wear any petticoats, garter belts, absolutely nothing underneath! I don't care what you wear on the outside but nothing underneath." Ruby hid a smile as Weiss slowly turn to look at her with a look that was a mixture of horror and annoyance graced her face. "This Rule will not be enforceable for combat dress or for our class uniforms."

"No!"

"Yep."

"No! No! Absolutely not! I will not be pressured into … this rule goes too far, Miss Rose! You cannot, CAN-NOT, force me to do something that I find objectionable! I have a reputation to maintain and this stupid rule will make harder, nay impossible, to maintain that reputation!"

"That didn't stop you from making Rule 7!" Ruby shot back as she slipped on the black flats

Weiss put her hands on her hips and gave Ruby a smile that a Beowolf would envy. "One day, future historians while discussing the amazing feats from Team White Rose, they will point out our greatest contributions towards Mankind continual survival against the Grimm started with Rule 7."

"Bitch," Ruby gasped out as Weiss's smile grew bigger. "Fine, I am invoking Rule 2."

"You wouldn't dare!"

Ruby stomped over to her desk and pulled out a small cloth bag that held her _Dungeons and Grimm_ dice. Ruby fished out the 20-sided die and slapped it down on Weiss's desk top. Weiss glared at the die and then at Ruby, whom was smirking like an idiot.

"Fine," Weiss whispered out between clenched teeth. "Then I am invoking Rule 2 subsection 'a'."

"Let's hear it."

"You are not allowed to curse anymore … ever."

"What!" Ruby squeaked out.

"No more vulgar terms, no crasser words …"

"Fucking Whore!"

"Exactly, no more of that either. You wish to curse; you will have to be more inventive then a drunken sailor on a four-day leave. So basically, if it is not a term you can use in a mix company of school children and their parents, you lose. Every time you violate Rule 13 subsection a, I get to choose which undergarment I get to wear for one night. Agree?"

"Hey! I allowed an exception for class and combat uniforms, you know. Can't you do the same? In the heat of battle, it will be harder, to quote you 'nay impossible', not to speak with profanity. And seriously, who the fuck says 'nay' anyways? I mean besides uptight wankers with sticks up their asses like you!"

"I guess that is a fair point," Weiss said then nodded in agreement. "Yes, I will allow an exception for battle, actual battle and not just practice bouts, however, that is as far as I am willing to go."

"Alright, I can live with that … I guess."

"And I further propose another amendment that this rule to be review anytime in the next thirty days by either party, agree?"

"Agree," Ruby said picking up the dice. "You know the rules; since I proposed the rule, I only get two rolls. You get three rolls but you have to beat my total score by the third roll or else the rule and it's two amendments are consider valid. In the unlikely event of a tie, we each get one more roll until the tie is broken." Ruby held out her hand towards Weiss. "Ready?"

Weiss took the die, shaking it in her fist before letting it roll across her desk top. "10"

"16"

"18"

"14. Fuck me. You have 28 and I have 30. Okay Weiss, all you need is a three or higher to win. Two will be a tie."

Weiss, without comment but wearing a wicked smile, let the die roll …

* * *

"That movie was, almost, maybe, somewhat, kind of, better than I thought it would be," Ruby said from the rear of the van, where she was practically sitting on Weiss's lap since all eight of them were crammed into the same cab.

Yang had to twist her neck to look back at the two squabbling girls as well as Nora and Ren. Weiss, while looking annoyed, which was pretty standard for her, wasn't pushing Ruby off of her. Instead the white hair heiress rolled her eyes and told her pint size teammate, "Not every movie has to have explosions in order to be enjoyable."

"Yeah, but the best movies do have great explosions! It is science!" Nora, who was crammed in between Ren and Weiss, screamed and fist bump Ruby while Ren and Weiss exchanged looks.

"Nora, you have to expand your horizons once in a while," Pyrrha smiled then looked at Jaune and her smile got bigger. "As should other people."

"I still say 'Dead by Daylight, part duce da slice' would have been a better choice." Jaune sat on the edge, next to Pyrrha, who couldn't stop smiling all night.

"Ah yes, group of students' trap in a mystic world with a psychotic maniac who want to sacrifices then one by one to his spider god." Yang's partner, Blake said, from the front seat. Unlike Yang, Pyrrha and Jaune, she had plenty of room to move around. "How original, just like the last 13 'Dead by Daylight' movies."

"At least it's easier to figure out then that falling white feather that they kept flashing on the screen," Ruby started squirming again, this time, Weiss did glare at her. "They never did explain that in the movie."

"Stop squirming, please. If you're going to insist on using my lap as a seat, then I want you to stay still."

"My skirt keeps riding up."

"How? There isn't enough skirt to cover you as is," Yang reminded her with a bit of acid in her voice.

Yang had no idea where Ruby got that … that … so-called outfit but Yang didn't like it one bit. It was too reveling for someone her age …for her at any age. Which matter nothing to Ruby, who claimed it she looked good in it and she was old enough to do what she wants.

"Maybe, next time, you will understand why we all requested for you to change into something more appropriate." Pyrrha said glaring at the youngest hunter. Jaune said something under his breath which got Pyrrha glaring at him.

"Yeah, yeah, I know; bad things will happen to me. Even though most people never even notice."

"Except those two waiters running into each other as we were leaving the restaurant, that was hilarious!" Nora screamed out, giggling.

"Yeah, okay that was kind of funny." Ruby said blushing a bit.

"The manager didn't think so," Blake said with a ghost of a grin. "But seeing that loathsome fat lady wearing that dessert tray was amusing."

"You guys have to admit seeing that guy on the bicycle slamming into that building outside the theater was a riot."

"You know it, Jaune, especially since he stared back at the wall as if it had purposely stood there for him to run into." Ruby said giggling along with him. "And that girl at the theater said I look good, so good she gave me a discount."

"She didn't give you a discount, dolt. She charged you the child admission."

Yang and the rest of the gang laugh as Ruby glared at Weiss, who sat there with a perfectly straight face and going out of her way not to notice the girl on her lap. Yang watched as Ruby rolled her eyes, glance outside and started to open her mouth before her gaze sharpen as she went rigid.

"Stop the cab, now!" The cabbie slammed on his brakes as Ruby stood up, grabbing a surprised and confused Weiss's hand. "Yang, there is an arm robbery back at the store, bunch guys with swords! Let's go, guys!"

"Wait for us," Blake told the cabbie as everyone followed Ruby out of the van.

"And contact the authorities, if you would please," Pyrrha shouted as her and Jaune ran down the street, hot on Yang's heels.

Yang made it to the store entrance to see Ruby and Weiss staring down at least 20 armed goons, all carrying reddish swords. Ruby dodge one of the goons as he swung at her, Ruby used her semblances to dodge to her left, while Yang step to her right. She allowed her own semblance and aura loose as she brought her right fist up to connect with the goon swing at Ruby. She let out a grin as the man went flying thirty feet to the back wall and slid down, no doubt he was out of the fight and will have a nasty headache when he wakes up later.

Yang looked for her next target, sure they had swords and the young huntress and hunters were unarmed. _But then again_ , Yang though with a huge grin. _A true Huntress is never unarmed!_


	11. Chapter 11

"Hold," Ruby shouted out while holding up her left fist.

As quickly as her cohorts jumped into the fight, they stood down into a loose fighting stance.

 _Around 20 bad guys, one totally out from that hit from Yang, six innocents, eight of us and … lots and lots of Dust._ Ruby thought as she glances quickly around the small store. Dust in crystals forms sitting in display cases, Dust in tubes along the walls and cylinders of dust laying on the ground that the scum had already stolen. Dust everywhere … all ready to go 'Boom' if anything went wrong. _Ah, bloody hell._

And behind the wall of scum was a tall, red head guy in a dapper, white suit, wearing a grin around his smoking cigar. Ruby's nose twitched, _expensive cigar,_ she thought, somewhat impressed. By his smirk, Ruby knew that he knew what she now knew; any fight in this store was inviting an explosion that could level this block of stores and place countless innocents and possibly themselves in sever danger. Ruby wasn't a hundred percent sure they could survive even with their supercharged auras.

"Smart move Red," the man said swing his cane around on his finger. "It would be a shame if there was an 'accident' in here, now wouldn't it?"

"Jaune, Nora; get the civilians to safety," Ruby said, checking on Weiss out of the corner of her eye.

Her white hair partner had the sword the goon dropped after he got slammed across the room by Yang. She also showed Ruby that she had two small display size canisters; one was a red, the other blue Dust. Glance over her way, Weiss gave her a small nod.

"Now, now," the head crook said as an old man scurry past Ruby for the door. "There is no reason to worry about anyone's safety, Red. We almost done here, anyways. So why don't you and your little friends go run home before your mommies and daddies get too worried about you."

"The building is clear," Pyrrha whispered as she took up space on Ruby's left along with Weiss and Yang.

Blake and Ren were on Ruby's right, no one except Weiss was armed but that wasn't going to matter now. Not once they get outside and had more room to maneuver, with less risk of damage to the surrounding buildings or neighbors.

Ruby held both her arms out, making small motions to get her friends to back up slowly towards the door while the creepy gangster smiled and spoke in a soft, silky, and yet, very sinister voice. "After all, I sure you've listen to the news, from time to time, you've all heard stories on the playground; how bad things happen to good little kids who stick their noses in place they don't belong."

Ruby waved Pyrrha outside first, allowing a perfectly even semicircle around the doorway. Giving Pyrrha ten seconds to move, she waved Ren and Blake out next.

"Scatter!" Ruby yelled out, keeping her eye on the master mind as Weiss and Yang ducked out the door. "Well, I guess it is a good thing then, that I am not a good little kid." With that Ruby spun around and burst out the door, leaving behind small, red rose petals.

* * *

Roman Torchwick let out a growl, "Well, don't just stand there, go get them."

As his men ran out the entrance, swords high in the air, he let out a frustrated sigh. He knew that his first heist had gone far too smoothly, so now, of course, he was going to pay for it. In spades.

Sure, there was only eight of those kids and their leader looks more like a tiny tart than a serious complication but he only had to look behind him to see one of the hire help still sprawled out and unconscious. Whoever these kids are, they were not your normal kids out for a night on the town.

Most likely, they were this year's crop of goody two shoes hanging out at Beacon. Their heads being filled with useless crap about being the good guys and nonsense about being honorable, which in reality, who cares what they learn. Roman was a firm believer in collage of hard knocks, things you learn in life was superior to anything you learn in a dusty old book.

Deities knows, he didn't give two pennies worth of fucks what they waste their time learning if it wasn't for the fact that as hunters, they had the muscle to back up their claims of moral superiority. He knows, from personal experience, just how damn hard it was to beat a full fledge Hunter, which is why he had so many goons with him, just in case.

How much of a chance does his hired help have against kids? His years as a street criminal told him the answer. Also, the years of surviving on the streets, he knew it was only going to go down from there.

Walking quickly, while trying not to appear nervous, he stepped outside to see exactly what he paid for when he subcontracted these 'gems' of the underworld.

Apparently, not much as he had hope for. And considering how low his expectations for these guys had been, it is hard for him to be surprised. Somehow, they did.

* * *

"Pyrrha, catch!" Ruby tossed the long hoe to the Minstrel girl as Pyrrha ran back outside. Ruby had found the improvised weapon in the same hardware store where she found her own weapon. Except, instead of gardening tool, she found a bin full of wooden dowels. Grabbing two of the 3-foot-long sticks, she charged back out to the street, screaming, "Let's go get them!"

"Will you …" Weiss started to say but Ruby battle scream drowned her out.

Ruby spun one of the rods in her left hand as she put on a burst of speed.

 _Want to defeat the pack, head straight in the middle,_ Ruby thought to herself as she lashed out the men in the middle of the group. She let out a smirk as the group scattered, just like any group of animals. When she came out the other side, she had to stop as her jaw dropped opened.

The man she had hit was on the ground screaming, his left leg had a part of his femur bone sticking out. Ruby, in one of the stupidities moment of her young life, looked down at the man, then to her weapon then back to the man all the while the battle raged around her.

Ruby was good at hand to hand, she had studied long and hard to be as good as she was, she was also good at using weapons but she had never actually broken anyone's bones. Especially not using anything but her guns.

She felt light headed for a second as she had moment of clarity; shivering as the cool waters of inspiration washed over her.

 _All warriors are artiest,_ Ruby reminded herself as Weiss screamed out her name. _But they are also scientists!_

Spinning around on her left foot, with a grin spreading across her face, _all martial arts is leverage!_ Her instructors drilled it into for years, her small size matter not if she can get a good angle on her opponent. To use their weight and height against them.

Activating her semblance, Ruby launched herself at a knot of bad guys harassing her Snowflake. Ruby was able to get the twin batons in a 'x' to block one guy's swing, twisting his swing to the right and away from Weiss.

 _Baking a cake and making Explosives is no difference; both are just chemistry. Both require taking different ingredients, which has to be mixed according to a specific recipe, to achieve the desired effects._

Ruby did a quick jog, activating her semblance, while she jabbed the man, who's attack she had blocked, in the gut. She almost grin while hearing him grunt, as well as watching his eyes bulge out of his skull, as he collapsed to the ground.

"Hey, jerk face, don't touch my Snowflake." She whispered out as she deflected another attacker's sword. "Only I get to make her squeal."

"I'm not your … wait," Ruby wiggled her eyebrows as her red face partner used a glyph to toss one of the goons into the side of a building. "Ruby Rose! I must insist that you cease being a degenerate while in battle! And pull down your skirt!"

This time it was Ruby's turn to blush, as she pulled the creeping hem line while ducking another sword, "Didn't like the show?"

"I don't have time to pay attention to you, degenerate."

"Yet," Ruby gave her red face partner a wink before charging up her semblance to help out Blake. "You're the one who noticed my skirt!"

 _Fighters understand the mechanics of fighting,_ Ruby reminded herself as she smacked an arm of a baddie sneaking up on Blake, again hearing the unmistakable sound of breaking bones. _A true warrior understands the science behind the art. Kinetic energy,_ Ruby worked hard to contain her giggle, knowing no one would understand why she was so happy. _I'm such an idiot! How could I forget the science behind the art of hand to hand fighting? How could I forget Kinetic energy?_

The sound of approaching police cars filled her ears as she spun around looking for new targets to take out, especially the big boss. Ruby spotted him driving away in a plain, white box truck, heading away at its best speed. She was ready to chase it down, if Yang hadn't grabbed her arm, stopping her.

"Relax Ruby," Yang said as her eyes return to their normal lilac instead of red. "Let him go, we done what we needed to do, we'll hunt him down later."

Ruby felt her energy drain from her as she looked around the battlefield, all the henchmen were on the ground, either screaming in pain or passed out. Ruby sagged as she put her hands on her knees, feeling more exhausted then she had ever before but pleased beyond words. Sure, Snowflake and her were both soaked in sweat, and Weiss seemed to be sagging in exhausted as well, but she had a wary smile for Ruby when their gaze met briefly. Yang, of course, was chipper and read for more fighting, Ruby gave her a thumb up as Jaune and Nora ran up. The fight had been short and intense but no one important was hurt.

Epiphany has been found and Ruby knew a new day has dawn.


	12. Chapter 12

Weiss lifted her head up a bit from her pillow, glancing around the semi dark dorm room, trying to locate the disturbance which woke her up. She looked up at the alarm clock that Ruby had built into the bottom of Ruby's bunk above her head; the clock showed 12:18 pm.

Weiss slammed her head back on her pillow, letting out a whispered word, which one might have mistaken for a curse, which of course was silly, since she would never utter such words, she wasn't Ruby after all. But she wasn't happy that she had been asleep for only an hour and half.

The battle that ended almost fourteen hours ago, had been very taxing for her physically, but the aftermath … that had proven to be more exhausting than the actual battle. The interrogation by the responding law enforcement agents, then by the Investigation Officers, both of which took a bit longer then she had wished, but it had been unavoidable. Since Ruby and the others had all insisted on waiting for someone from Beacon to arrive as well as legal counsel for both herself and Ruby.

Weiss had found it amusing that the most surprising revelation of the night had been how unsurprising it had been to everyone involved that Ruby had her own lawyer. As well as how the lead detective knew who Ruby's lawyer was by name and how fatigued she appeared when she finally arrived.

 _Then came the news conference,_ Weiss thought feeling her ire growing again.

The two had only known each other for less than a week, tomorrow will be one complete week, so Weiss was still unfamiliar with many intimate details of her reclusive partner. Ruby hadn't been very forthcoming about her mother, although she had made it very clear her father was unknown, which could explain her rather lose, deviant behavior.

A deviant behavior that Ruby was, somehow, infecting Weiss with, the kind of behavior that still left Weiss confused as to how she was ever talked into participating in or worst! It shook Weiss to her core how she is unable to answer her own question as to why she enjoyed it as much as Ruby claim she would.

 _Regardless of how much … let's be honest, Weiss; it was quite thrilling walking around with nothing on under my clothes but that is far as I am going to allow her to take me! This behavior stops now!_ Weiss said to herself with great determination as she threw off her covers and sat up in bed to see …

Weiss put her head in her hands, _she is like an infection!_ Weiss though as she sat there without a stitch of clothing on. _I'm going to be disowned before I graduate, I just know it._

Weiss climb out of bed, staggering to the bathroom, where she could hear someone doing something in there. Since the bathroom door was open, and Ruby, as much as a loose cannon as she was with other peoples' rules, she followed their own rules to the letter, so Weiss decided to forgo any clothing. If there had been anyone in there with her, she would have woken up Weiss before that other person enter the room.

Standing in the shower, doing something with the shower head, Weiss saw her friend Ruby Rose and she was …

"What are you doing? And where did you get that outfit?" Weiss snapped, probably a bit more angrily then she had attended but she was running on little sleep and still annoyed about Ruby's antics at the press conference.

"Like it?" Ruby said cheerfully as she turned to give Weiss a better view of the red, pleated, micro-skirt and checker, sleeveless, hoody vest, zipped up to just below her choker.

"Ruby; you look …" Weiss stopped her planned titrate as she walked into the bathroom. Pushing herself up on the counter, she re-evaluated her response. "The skirt is still too short but the style is somehow more flattering. And the vest … yes, the vest is all you and I mean that as a positive. Where did you get those? I know I own nothing like that skirt."

"Well," Ruby said sly as she took her tools and began twisting the shower head. "After I got done at the hardware store, I decide that … maybe … wearing skirts and … you know … well, what the heck. You might have been right; maybe I can dress a bit more girly from time to time."

"Wait," Weiss said, faking confusion. "You went shopping?"

"Yep!"

"At a woman's clothing store?"

"Yeah," Ruby said slowly as she pulled off the shower head.

"Alone and of your own free will?"

"Weiss," Ruby let out a sigh as she walked over to the counter to switch the shower head with the one in a package.

Weiss notice that one was plastic and has a long hose attached to it. "I am shocked, Ruby Rose. Truly, I am. I had always assumed, I would have to have Yang drag you into clothing store, kicking and screaming."

"It's all your fault, you know," Ruby snapped as she began reassembling their shower. Glaring at Weiss, Ruby went on to say. "You, Ms. Schnee, you are a very bad influence on me."

"Don't blame me for you growing up, Ms. Rose," Weiss smiled evilly. "Did you, perchance, decide to purchase some footwear while you were engaged in shopping for yourself?" The look Ruby gave her left no doubt in Weiss's mind what that answer was; letting out a theatric sigh, Weiss said. "Well, I suppose that was being too optimistic. Anyways, everyone knows Mantle wasn't constructed in a day, so … small steps, yes?" Weiss let out a big tooth grin at the look Ruby gave her. Stretching her arms above her head, and letting out a yawn, she asked. "So what are you doing and what else did you purchases?"

"I bought a few more skirts, some of them mini-skirts that you like as well, so we can share clothing. And some blouses and tops that … well, there is one I absolutely can't wait to see you in."

Now it was Weiss's turn to glare at Ruby's leer. "See me in or see me barely in?"

Ruby just grinned at Weiss as she stepped out of the shower, placed the tools on the counter and washed her hands. "I bought that wood I needed; lucky for me, someone had order some very expensive and very dense Cocobolo wood in an 8X8 3 ft. post. Whoever order it originally did so two years ago, he left a deposit and a phone number but since then, the number no long works and the man never came back for the wood. Sure, I had to pay full price, including the deposit, since they had to hold on to his lien for another 3 years but the wood is in great shape. After I get a nap, I going to take them down to my workshop and begin phase two of my plan."

"Which is?"

"My clandestine plan, my friend, for total victory over the school! A great, big, goody, secret and you will love it, when I let you in on it tomorrow."

"We're doomed."

"Hey! Have some faith in me. I also got an adjustable shower massager for us."

"A what?"

"An adjustable shower massager," Ruby said slowly. Weiss must have been wearing an 'I am extra stupid' expression because Ruby stood in front of her and lean down and repeated what she had said. Adding, "You have got to be kidding me? As filthy rich as you are, you never had one before?"

"Father," Weiss started saying, looking at Ruby's zipper, instead of making eye contact. "Father always felt such luxury items were a waste of his hard earned money, thus an unneeded expenditure. So if a normal shower head was sufficient, then such shower head was all that was needed and anything else would be a waste of lien and, worst in his eyes, a deliberate flaunting of his wealth."

"Seriously?"

"Yes," Weiss shyly played with Ruby's zipper since she had nothing else to do with her sudden uneasiness. "Father has always felt that he didn't have to flaunt his wealth or his power; especially since everyone already knew he had both. He had always said 'those who truly have it don't have to flaunt their holdings, only those who wish to have it, wish to flaunt it.' There are many modern appliances and things in our home but they are strictly no frills functions."

"That is just sick! What is the point of working yourself that hard and not spend a little to enjoy life?"

"The point," Weiss shot back, and dropping her hands down to the counter as if she need the extra support. As much as her Father … was … her father, and as … difficult … as he was to her, Weiss still, for some reason, felt the need to defend him. Especially to Ruby, who own family was somehow even screw up worst then her own. "The point is not to be so poor and powerless that you are control by the whims of others, Ms. Rose! Something I had assumed you would have some understanding of."

Weiss glared at Ruby, daring her to say something crude as she always did but …

Instead, Ruby took a half step back and held up her hands in defense. "Ah, okay, Snowflake. I'll take that part back, sorry." Weiss sat there, waiting for the punch line that never came. Ruby must have sense her confusion as she went on to say. "Look, we tend to argue a quite a bit enough, as it is."

"An understatement but accurate, yes."

"Right, and I'm sure we will be fighting about something else in a few minutes. But, there should be boundaries and … well," Ruby moved in closer to give a stun Weiss a quick, half hug and an actual sincere smile. "I have no right to say anything about your father, especially … you know … it wasn't right. So …"

"Ruby Rose, are you actually apologizing?" Weiss asked as Ruby mumbled out something.

"Don't make this harder than it already is," the red face Ruby said pulling back a bit.

"Oh me, oh my goodness!" Weiss snickered as she absently started pulling on Ruby's zipper. "You are, aren't you? My little deviant is actually going to say an apology!"

"Are you enjoying yourself?"

"Immensely! Now let me hear it?"

"What? Why? You already know what I am going to say!"

"So? I wish to hear you say it!" Weiss laugh as she started to pulled Ruby's zipper down to her bellybutton. "So indulge me and say it loud enough for me to hear."

"Something are best unsaid; don't you think?" Ruby said growing redder as she tried, unsuccessfully, to pulled her zipper back up.

"I disagree, now say it, my friend."

"I hate you, did you know that, Snowflake?"

"I hate you too, dork. Now say it."

"Fine." Ruby huffed. "My opinions about your father are just mine, and I will admit I don't know the full story between you two. But I will tell you, I don't like what little you have told me. Still, none of that matters, I should have never brought him up in one of our little spats, that was insensitive and rude of me. I know that I wouldn't like you to throw my mom in my face, so I shouldn't do the same to you. So … so I am sorry I did earlier and I will make an effort to never do it again." Weiss stared at Ruby for a full minute before Ruby tilted her head and said, "Happy now?"

"Yes," Weiss said smiling. "I thank you, Ruby and accept your apology." As Ruby gave Weiss a hug, which she returned, she added. "And no touching while I am naked."

"Baw," Ruby huffed but not letting go. "No hugs when we are dressed, no hugs when naked; I am starting to think you don't like hugs."

"Finally, getting the hint, are we?"

"Hint? What hint?" Ruby said pulling back a bit. Weiss rolled her eyes as Ruby stuck out her tongue at her. "Anyways, I want to show you how much I appreciate you taking me out with the gang last night and everything you did before the fight. I wasn't sure how to do it properly but now I do! I'll show you how to use our new shower! So shake a leg, Snowflake and let's get in the shower together."

"We do not shower together," Weiss said flatly as she finished unzipping Ruby's vest while Ruby wiggled out of her skirt.

"Not together-together, silly" Ruby grabbed Weiss's hand and easily lead her to the shower. "I just want to show you some of the features of our new shower and then I am kicking you out so I can take a real one because, Snowflake, I reek."

"Yes, you do. And what is so special about this one?" Weiss asked as Ruby grabbed the shower head and pulled it closer to them.

"Well," she said as she got the water very warm. "For one thing, it's adjustable and flexible, turn around please, so now you can easily wash your own back." Weiss felt a chill shoot through her as Ruby ran the shower head over her head. The combo of the water and Ruby's hand running through her hair, it was giving her serious tingly feelings. "I love your hair but I really wish you would let me get it cut shorter for you."

"Never," Weiss said in a tone that offered no debate.

"I hope you never regret that but it is your choice. Now this is a massager feature." Weiss had to lean forward and put both hands on the shower walls as she felt something like a thousand fingers gently pulsing against her neck. "Feels nice, uh?"

"Yes," Weiss could barely answer Ruby as the action of the water, combine with Ruby's hand in her hair was really making her relax and … tingle!

"I told you, you would like this," Weiss could hear the smile in Ruby's voice but that isn't what started to alarm her.

Ruby's hand was now scraping lightly across her shoulders with the water getting lower. And the water wasn't the only thing getting lower either! Those tingling sensations were heading south as well. _Oh God! Not now! Not here!_ Weiss thought as a familiar sensation began to grow inside her.

"Feels good, so good, right?"

 _NO! I have to stop this right now! I can't … not with another person … especially not … but she seems like she is … no bad thoughts … I will tell her to stop right now!_ "Yes," Weiss meekly replied as her arms started shaking a bit. _Oh Bravo! You stupid … we can't … oh god, now she is … is … those nails on my back!_

"You know how I know how good it is?" Ruby asked as she kept running her hand up and down from her head to the small of her back and sending the water against her stomach. "Can you guess?"

Weiss just shook her head, afraid to open her mouth, not sure what she would say.

Ruby leaned up against Weiss, playing the water against her left thigh while scraping her fingers over her right. "Because all night, you kept running those perfectly manicure nails on my outer thighs, making me squirm. Just like I am doing to you now. Didn't you?"

"Yes," Weiss moaned.

"It's okay, Snowflake," Ruby said giggling. "I like it, you little tease. It was cute how you kept me on the edge. All night long. And you knew it too, I know you did. And you were so good at making sure no one caught on to our little game." Weiss didn't bother answering; she was actually beyond caring about anything really except what her body was telling her. "That is why when I saw this, I knew I had to get it. To let you know how close I was and …"

Weiss's eyes popped open, as the water hit her … _OH MY GOD!_ She had never been, never felt like …

Then it stopped! "Wait! No! No stop! What are you … why are you stopping! Don't …"

"Demonstration time over!" the still cheerfully Ruby said as she pulled Weiss out of the shower.

"No! Not over … Ruby, not over yet! Wait!" Weiss said as she slid across the tile floor.

"Here is a towel, get dry and go back to bed. My turn to shower!" Weiss wanted to beat that smile off her former friend's face as she pushed her out of the bathroom with a towel draped over her head. "Because, as you know full well, we don't shower together. Bye-bye." With that, Ruby slammed the door close.

"No Ruby, please!" Weiss tried to open the door but it was locked. Pounding on the door, the dripping wet Weiss screamed. "Ruby, open this door right this instant! Do you hear me, Ruby? Ruby!"

"La-La! Can't hear you over the shower," Ruby said over the running water.

"You fucking whore!" Weiss screeched out.

Weiss quickly went to her desk, pulling out a small cylinder of blue dust. She walked over to the center of the room, uncapped the dust and conjured up a glyph in front of her and, since she knew the exact dimension of their room, one above the shower. In her mind, she lowered that glyph a bit then threw some dust into the one in front of her. As she recapped her dust, she was rewarded with a scream of anger from within the bathroom. Weiss center herself, ready for the tornado that was going to come blasting out of the bathroom. And she wasn't disappointed as a soapy and very wet Ruby, whose arms, face and upper body was covered in red welts from the ice, threw open the door and charge at her. Weiss threw up another glyph to defect Ruby … almost in time.


	13. Chapter 13

"About time you two showed up," Blake heard her overly bubbly partner say while she made herself more comfortable on the benches.

"Yeah," Ruby let out a sigh as she sat her new Beacon backpack on the bench in front of her while the Schnee sat down next to the bag with a huff. "We lost track of time because we were doing some early stamina exercises and had a shower issue."

"What was the problem with the shower?" Blake asked off handily as she watch Ruby pull a couple batons, reddish orange color, wooden PR-24s, to be exact, out of her bag.

Blake had to mentally restrain herself from reacting to seeing Ruby's obviously hand crafted racist tools of oppression. _Probably belongs to the Schnee's father. Her father probably gave her to them as a going away gift, to 'protect' herself from any 'dirty fauna' she might encounter._ Blake though as memories of Schnee 'security' forces using such batons in a brutal fashion against peaceful demonstrators.

Against her.

"Nothing worthy of discussion," Weiss said quickly. Yang and Blake exchange glances, the Ice Princess had answered a bit too quickly, and tad too loudly, for either of them to take her seriously. "Are you sure you want to try those out today?"

"Better now than later," Ruby said as she slipped on her red belt, the same shade of red that matched her choker, which she never seemed to remove. The rest of her outfit was what she normally wore in combat, this particular body sock was a solid black but still sported that sheer strip running up the outside. This one, although, had no footie attached, instead she was showing her small bare feet. Pulling on her red, leather, gloves, Ruby went on to say, "If they don't work, I will need to know why they didn't work so I can rework them."

"I understand your reasoning," Weiss said picking up the bag and sitting it on her lap as Ruby straddle the bench to look at all three of them. "My concern is the outcome of the sparing bout. The main objective is to show that he is not as tough as he portrays himself, that, like most bullies, he is all talk without any substantial action."

"Can I see one of those," Yang asked.

"Sure," Ruby handed one of them to Yang while she directed her next response to her partner. "Yeah, yeah, Snowflake; I know the plan. No mocking him, no baiting him, and no blows to the skull. I go in, slapped him down and be a gracious winner. I got this Snowflake, trust me."

"Especially no blow to the head, especially not while using 'those'. Regardless of my father's official position, PR-24 can be, and have been, deadly when use improperly. Blows to the skull can, and will, result in acute brain trauma and or death."

"A little brain damage might do him some good."

"Ruby!"

"If you know how dangerous they can be, then why does your father allow them to be used against peaceful protesters?" Blake snapped, the words streaming out of her before she could stop them. "Like the White Fang …"

"The White Fang? Peaceful? Don't make me ill." The spoiled brat said glaring at Blake. "Those criminals deserve all that they receive." _Just like daddy, you useless racist …_ Blake though to herself as the young heiress took a deep breath, as if to calm herself. "Having said that, I do not approve of his decision on allowing our security forces using such weapons on those whom are actually participating in peaceful faunas' activists. Unfortunately, considering what they could use to scattered crowds, I will take what I can get, for now. Perchance, one day soon, such heavy handed defensive posturing from our family business won't be required, it is my hope anyways."

"I can see why they are so dangerous," Yang said, unaware of Blake's growing ire, and confusion, with the heiress, as she handed the two handle, two-foot-long baton back to Ruby. "These are beautiful Ruby, where did you get them?"

"I made them, yesterday."

"You made them!" Blake was aghast! "Why?"

"I want to test out a new fighting technique using my semblance. Using the kinetic energy, which I create using my super speed, to disable and eliminate my targets. The problem with harnessing kinetic energy is you have to be very careful how you do it or it can get transferred back from your target to you. If I don't fully understand the 'how' and 'why' while using it in combat, instead of taking off my enemy's head, I could end up ripping out my shoulder." Ruby answered Blake in a matter fact tone, as if she was an instructor teaching a class. "And I had to hand make them, I doubt that any cheap version of a PR-24 I could have acquirer on retail could either stand up to rigors of my style of combat or even arrive in a timely manner."

"I will also say that the second handle, which allows her a greater range of defensive moves then a standard club would. One of the very few redeeming qualities of the PR-24 design." Weiss said letting her voice cool again.

"It's just a tool, Snowflake. Tools, science, weapons; they are all neutral. None of them are inherently evil or good, it is the person who uses the tool that determines its morality."

"May I have your attention please?" Professor Goodwitch said from the center of the arena, she was the picture of cool poise as she stood tall and straighter as a ruler. Unlike the man standing next to her, the relaxed form of Headmaster Ozpin was in stark contrast to her, especially as he sipped on his cup of coffee. "Thank you all. For our newest students, and to our returning students; welcome to Combat class. As you may have noticed from your class assignments, Monday is strictly a combat class day."

"In here, you will either spend time in the ring being and receiving critiques on your stands, fighting style, weapons of choice as well as receive tips and suggestions from not only the staff instructors but from your fellow classmates as well, on areas in which you need to improve on. For this part, you will be graded as an individual."

"You will also be required to remain in the viewers stands for the entirety of the class. While you are in the stands, you will pay attention to the combat assessment occurring in the ring. Your team will be scored on your assessments of the other combatants as well as your suggestions on areas in which they should concentrate on to improve their scores."

"For the teams, starting this week, Saturday is open for you to training with your teams. The same criteria are expected if you so desire to attend. Unlike this class, the Team training day is voluntary but highly recommended you attend at least once during the semester."

"Might as well forget about your social life, Weiss," Ruby whispered to her partner.

"Now," Professor Ozpin said loudly, before Weiss could say anything in return, while stepping up in front of Goodwitch. "Here at Beacon; we expect every individual to maintain the highest degree of professionalism, while in class or not. Especially while you are off campus and in the eyes of the general public. After all, the public look towards us, those who are hunters and you who will be one day, as persons of the highest qualities of integrity, honesty and compassion. We are, after all, the line between them and the Grimm. So it is reassuring for them to see us in our best light at all times."

Blake felt a shiver go through her as Ozpin settled his gaze on Ruby, who was herself, doing her best to shrink out of sight. _Weird,_ Blake thought as Ozpin resumed speaking. "As many of you have no doubt had become aware of, on Friday, a group of our first year students happened upon an incident at a local Dust shop. An incident that threaten the wellbeing of innocent bystanders as the criminal gang was intent on committing their crime regardless of the cost to those around them."

"I would like to thank Weiss Schnee, Blake Belladonna, Yang Xiao Long, Jaune Arc, Pyrrha Nikos, Lie Ren, and Nora Valkyrie for their quick actions to mitigate any harm to the innocent bystanders and detain those who were engage in criminal activities for local law enforcement. I would like to add an extra thanks to Ruby Rose, who took charge of the situation and led not only her team but also instilled the trust of others to follow her without question."

"It is this kind of leadership and teamwork that set those at Beacon above the rest of the Academies. It is this kind of selfless dedication to the welfare of our citizens is what inspires many to become Hunters. We are not a bunch of indiscipline mercenaries who only care for the Lien in their pockets. We are professional at all times, on campus or off campus …" Blake felt another shiver as Ozpin stopped to sip on his coffee and she swears that his stare got harder without really changing. Ruby must have felt it too because she seemed to shrink even more. "Or when discussing events with the media. If you are unsure on how to answer a particular question or have the self-awareness to know how you will react to their questions, please stop and direct them to the school administrators. We will be more than happy to answer on your behalf. I hope I'm being clear on this matter."

Ruby nodded her head so quickly, Blake though it was going to fall off.

"Good."

As Ozpin moved his gaze, Blake felt the pressure vanish and was surprise that not only Ruby let out a sigh but Yang and Weiss as well.

"I hate it when he does that," Yang whispered out.

"You hate it?" Ruby shot her a hard look, "try being in my shoes once in a while."

"We can't, you never wear shoes."

"Shut up!" Ruby growled at the smug looking heiress.

"Now," Ozpin raised his voice a bit over the low murmur. "Let me be very clear, you are still students. We don't expect nor will tolerate anyone leaving campus to find criminal activity to disrupt. Innocently running into a problem is one thing, seeking out a problem is another. One we will tolerate and forgive, the other we will not. I hope I am clear on this matter. Now one more piece of information before I return the class to Professor Goodwitch."

"We here at Beacon, and at the other Academies as well, view all Hunters and Huntress, both in training or in the field, as one family. However, we understand that from time to time, in every family, there are those whom might experience … a bit of a rough spot ... while dealing with others in the family. It is understandable, especially given the diverse family such as ours and it is our hope that over the next four years, we will be able to give you the tools to find ways to work in harmony with others, regardless of their background."

"Fighting between students is strictly prohibited, on and off campus, and anyone found initiation a fight will be expelled, regardless of their background or family connections."

"Instead, if you feel that you have no other recourse, seek out an Instructor or Professor Goodwitch and request for you and the other party to be allowed to spar against each other. The staff will generally allow it but they will try to mediate beforehand to see of another solution can be found. Still, we would prefer having you spar in a control environment then the alternative." Headmaster Ozpin then paused to take a long sip on his coffee, then in a completely dead pan voice said, "And no Miss Rose, teammates are prohibited from sparing against each other, if that is your question? We expect all teammates to explore all other options to establish harmony."

"I wasn't going to ask," Ruby said loudly. After a perfectly timed paused she shouted back out. "But since you brought it up, will you quit sucking out all the joy out of this sparing!"

"As if!"

"We already have our first volunteers," Goodwitch said loudly over the general laughter as Ozpin walked off stage. "Miss Rose, Mr. Cardin; please come down to the arena floor." Blake watch Ruby fist bump Weiss before skipping down the steps to the main floor. Cardin, on the other hand, seemed to strut down to the floor. All of his human arrogance on full display.

Goodwitch face didn't show any emotions as she watched him descend, Blake hoped that meant she disapprove of the man as well. "We follow the standard competition regulations. Both contestants are permitted to use their semblance and any weapons that they alone can bring into the ring. The round will last until one team has fallen below 15% aura or whom ever has the lowest aura level at the end of 15 minutes. If you step out or forced out of the ring, you will be declared the loser of the round. If, for any reason, you hear this buzzer, you will immediately stop all actions until the judges clear you to either resume or declare your bout complete."

"Choosing of all combatants, unless requested, will be done randomly. Correspondingly, age will not be a factor in choosing contestants, any of you first year students could end up fighting against a fourth year. If you should find yourself in such situation, do not allow it to discourage you. Instead, please look at it as a positive learning experience. Plus, you might just surprise yourself at the end of the round. After all, in the real world, Grimm will not care what your score in the ring was; they will only be interested in defeating you. And learning how to overcome opponents who are strong and more experience then you are, that is a skill that will keep you alive out in the field. Are there any questions?" Blake leaned forward as Weiss pulled out a video recorder out of the backpack, while Goodwitch walked off the ring. "Very well, begin!"


	14. Chapter 14

Weiss stared angrily at the secondary scroll sitting on her desk next to her. Unlike her primary scroll, which held only family members' information, as well as a very small numbers of very, selective handpicked group of students and acquaintances she felt were important enough to warrant her time; this secondary scroll was more of what some would call her 'work scroll'.

Even though she was a student at Beacon Academy, her studies did not relieve her of her responsibilities to her family's various business interest.

Thus, Weiss has to carries, and periodically review, a scroll that holds all her professional contacts and associates from the Schnee Dust company, personal and business lawyers, her agent and those kinds of people in which she had to selectively shields herself from, less they all attempt to monopolize her time.

Most of them, sadly, were more interested in talking to her, aka sucking up to her, in order to get her on board with whatever agendas they have, with the wild delusion that her father would ever consider listening to anyone, even his own daughter, other than himself. Weiss would have deleted this scroll, preferably by smashing it repeatedly on the floor, long ago, as Weiss despised 'Yes Men' on principle. She hasn't, yet, since she has learned from her father not to dismiss a potential useful resource just because of their failure at being a decent human being.

Even cockroaches have their uses in nature.

Weiss also had a third scroll due to an irresponsible requirement by Beacon Academy to have a personal scroll number being available to all of the students on campus. For most students, this would be their only scroll. Jaune, for example, mistakenly believes that this number was her only non-work number, a delusion she had no intention of correcting him on. He was bothering her enough as is.

 _How that boy could be so blind to the real world was beyond my understanding of interpersonal human relationships._

Weiss has shown truly zero amount of interest in him, avoiding him and belittling him at every opportunity, which was almost as easy as taken candy from a child, unlike his own partner, Pyrrha Nikos, who has done everything under the sun but drag him into bed; yet, he continues to ignore Pyrrha's advances while pursuing her.

The whole situation was beyond laughable to her.

Regardless, of these newly realize, turbulent, powerful, absolutely palpably confusing, emotions that, somehow, the Dork infected her with since day one; her opinion of Pyrrha hasn't changed a bit. Pyrrha is an extremely attractive, world renown fighter, a woman who could have any eligible male as a mate without so much as lifting a finger. So how she could settle for … him?

 _Him!_

Of all people in Beacon, or the world for that matter, she wants … him!

And Weiss had thought she was the only one in the world who has lost all sense of reason when it came to their partners!

Pyrrha's desire for him made even less sense to Weiss then the latest report she was receiving from Schnee's Company Security, concerning the increase number of dust shipments being reported as missing and or outright stolen since the night Dolt and her stopped that reprobate, Roman Torchwich, attempted thief three months ago.

The number of thief's, according to the internal intel report, were far too high to be attributed solely to a petty criminal gang acting independently, however, none of these crimes could be link, either directly or indirectly, to White Fang since the number of terrorist attacks involving dust powered weapons was actually on a statistically decrease.

Especially here in Vale.

Even though Vale has never been considered a very active zone for White Fang activities, being the most tolerant of the four kingdoms, the number of White Fang related incidents occurring within the kingdom were nearly zero.

Again, only in the last three months.

The analysts all agree this data suggest a clear move to hoard Dust but as to the actual motives were unclear. Some feel as if it was part of a master plan to eventually make a move against Atlas, or force Schnee to increase production thus increasing White Fang's propaganda and recruitment. The least possible, and least popular, opinion … to lay siege against Vale itself since the Vytal Festival Tournament would be held in eight months.

Most of the members of the Security force from both Atlas and her father's company dismiss this last option, citing that the amount of poor press the White Fang would receive from such attack. If they did purse such a plan to attack, such assault would not risking losing face by laying siege to the most liberal of the Kingdoms, but also endanger many of their own people during an event in which a huge number of Faunas have historically attend.

Such a move would not only isolate them further with Humans but also could destroy their image with the very people they 'claim' to be fighting for. Weiss certainly hoped that the current leaders of the White Fang hadn't degrade their own morals enough to believe the high chances of harming the very people they claim to be 'liberating' pales to their desire for revenge against 'the dirty humans'.

Surely, no sane leader would even entertain such a notion.

But …

The fact that someone in the grand halls of Atlas could conceive of these actions being on a list of possibility, and, no one is willing to dismiss such plot as being far too ridicules to be taken seriously. It was also the one theory that she couldn't just laugh off as well, says much about the intel they have gather on the more militant members of the White Fang leadership that have emerged lately.

Ten years ago, such possibility could not, would not, be entertained, even by the most extreme elements on either side of this undeclared war. Violence was restricted to only those who actually participated in the war. Even as early as seven years ago, when they started targeting active family members as the "Twenty-Nine" proved, endangering innocent civilians was still avoided at all cost. But even then, children weren't always active targeting, only if they happened to be with the original target. Collateral damage, they called it.

However, in the last five years, even Weiss was not the only child in Atlas that had to have armed security hovering around her whenever she traveled outside her family home.

"Snowflake!"

The red-headed tornado blew into the room, jarring Weiss out of her dark thoughts. Kneeling down next to Weiss's chair, the fifteen-year-old juvenile delinquent, stared up at Weiss with her quirky smirk and a slightly evil, mischievous glint in her eyes.

At least, Weiss assumed the slightly evil, mischievous glint was there, not only due to the fact it was always present; as it was that gaze that was one of the many things about Ruby Rose that made Weiss question so many truths she had previously held about herself. This time, however, she couldn't see the silver eyes since they were hidden behind a pair of dark goggles, the kind that the pioneers of flight used to wear.

"Dolt?" Weiss asked, using this opportunity to practice her 'poker face'. Having a face devoid of showing emotions was crucial to succeeding in the cut throat world of business negotiations. A world where an ill times smirk, of a twitch of an eye could cost you millions in liens. Her father, damn him, was a master at hiding his emotions, he hid them so well, even Weiss had difficulty sensing his true emotions, most of the time. Luckily, Dolt provided her many opportunities to practice her art. "What is that on your face?"

"It's something I have been working on for a couple years," Ruby said, adjusting the goggles. "It's a wirelessly rangefinder connected to my scroll that can tracks a given target. It can give me the target's speed, mass, direction of travel, yaddy faddy techie talk you know … so I can essentially track a target and take it out with minimal effort."

"Really?"

"Yep! In fact, it can also give me a read out of a person's aroura or lack of one, such as a Grimm. I tested it out on Yang earlier; did you know that 99% of her mass is found in her boobs?" Weiss couldn't suppress a sigh, or the slight grin, at Ruby's seriously innocent expression, while she made another slight adjustment to her goggles.

Neither Ruby or herself were overly endowed, they weren't flat chested by any definition, but they would never win, as Ruby often so rudely puts it, the Biggie Boobies awards. And while she never made any comments wishing that either them had larger breast, or that she preferred larger breast; she stills has an almost fanatical fixated obsession with large breast.

Especially Yang's.

Some of Ruby favorite comments on Yang's chest has claimed that Yang's excessive size proves that they are not related or that the bobbies fairy wasted years of bobbies' dust on Yang making it impossible for anyone born after her to experience the joys of having real boobs of their own. Considering they were both born after Yang, it just adds fuel to the fire.

"Wait! Snowflake! This is amazing! It is … holy Grimm!" Ruby shot forward, putting her googled face inches from her own. Weiss drew back a bit, while reaching in her bathrobe's pocket for her secret supply of Dust, that she has made it a habit of carrying with her at all times … just in case. "Your beauty, your sexiness and your ability to enjoy life … they are being sucked out of you! By an alarming rate … by … Molhova! It's … it's that stick up your bum! Hold still while I …"

With a smirk Weiss didn't even try to hid, open up a portal behind her juvenile delinquent while using Dust to create a gust of wind strong enough to shove her back into the portal.

Being with her Dolt has been a blessing in more ways than just getting a chance to practice her poker face.

Weiss innocently turn back to her desk as Ruby bounce on to the top bunk with what might have been a curse, but she couldn't call Ruby on it, since Weiss could not speak ancient Hulian.

"You know, I'm not sure if you are my type or not, yet, and I have no experience with this kind of thing; so, forgive my confusion but wouldn't it be more fun if you were up here with me?"

"I assume your classes went well today?" Wiess asked, sidestepping Ruby's question.

Even though Weiss was half tempted to call Ruby on her bluff, especially since Weiss was in a playful mood today, she wouldn't for a couple reason.

For one, Ruby might not be bluffing.

There is also a chance that Ruby was bluffing but Weiss has seen that Ruby will go to great lengths to avoid folding her hand. Even if she was not serious, Ruby would do … things … anything … to prove to everyone that she wasn't bluffing. Backing down was not in her vocabulary. So, she would do things that could damage their very hard-earned close relationship.

Then there was Weiss's own feelings, playful flirting was one thing, but if they cross that line …

To the elites of Weiss's world, same sex relationship, adultery and other types of sexual behavior; those were acceptable activities … for those 'common people' of Remnant. Someone in Weiss's station in life was expected to marry a member of the opposite sex and remain faithful and married till death do they part. Hence, why her mother refuses to leave her father's side as the social damage could and would, not only affect her children's future in Atlas, but also could cause a massive shake up at the Schnee Dust company. Everything her family spent lifetimes building up, could be lost.

So, since she was still unattached and in Vale; crossing that line would only bring a small regret but no lasting effects since it was unlikely to ever be found out. No, the real danger for Weiss was her inability to answer the main question; she wasn't sure she would not enjoy being with Ruby, a lot!

"My professor in Advance Metallurgy seems to have gave me a real stumper," the partially dressed Ruby said while straddling Weiss's lap. "He has metal alloy that I can't identify … yet."

"Really?" Weiss asked as she helped Ruby finish removing her blouse.

"I know, I'm shock as well but I will figure it out soon. I always do." Ruby said with a grin as she reached behind her for Weiss's work scroll. "So how was your day? Must have been horrible for you, not seeing me all day."

"Again, how do you walk through doorways with such an inflated head?" Weiss said while running her finger tips over Ruby's ticklish spots.

"Hey, now! No tickling while I am trying to read."

"My class work is proceeding nicely, despite your sad attempt to derail my studies, I am achieving my studies to my high standards."

"My, my such big words." Ruby said while leaning forward and resting her chin on Weiss's left shoulder. "So, what made you look all grumpy …" Ruby sat up quickly, with a look that Weiss was sure she had on her own face earlier. "That is a lot of Dust."

"Agreed." Weiss acknowledge as she took the scroll from Ruby's hand. Pulling her back down, she added. "It has provided some very disturbing … possibilities."

"Yeah," Ruby said quietly before perking up and leading against Weiss … again, in a way Weiss didn't find too displeasing. "Speaking of dire consequences, have you talk to Yang lately?"

"I have only one class with her today and it is first thing in the morning; so, no, I have no spoken to her lately."

"Well, then I got some horrible news and some great news for you, Snowflake!"

"Do tell."

"Bad news first. Well, on the way back here, I ran into Yang. It seems that Blake and her want to head into the city for a night out after team training tomorrow and they want us to join them."

"Oh, how awful." Weis said with a wide grin.

"I know, I know. I can't imagine any worst fates for us. I did tell her I had to check with you first before making any commitment."

"I do not know, Dolt, we have such a full scheduled."

"And I was thinking of letting you chose my outfit for the night, just to add layer of pain and humiliation."

"Hmm, might I also apply make up to you as well?"

"Schnee!"

"So, what is the reason for all this doom and gloom? I must know the details before I can agree to this outing."

"Ah! Here comes the good news." Ruby leaned back and began tapping Weiss's stomach. "It seems that in the latest round of 'loser being booted for being idiots'; Chris, their teammate, failed to sustain a positive GPA. I mean if Jaune can do it, how hard can it really be?"

"Ah, now I can see why Blake and Yang are wishing to drown their sorrows by going into the city. Blake and Chris were always butting heads in class."

"But it gets better. Steve, their upstanding patron of high morality leader was poking a girl name Crystal, a third-year huntress who doesn't want to hunt Grimm but study them. So, whatever, mega points against her already. But while they were doing the horizontal shuffle today, her long time boytoy, Brad, walked into her dorm room."

"I had heard of a disturbance on the second floor this afternoon, but unaware of the cause."

"Brad is one of those science weenies, like Crystal, and not a real hunter. So, when Steve threw the first punch, in front of several witnesses, Brad folded up like a cheap suit. Ozpin has Steve packing up his junk as we speak."

"How tragic, clearly our sisters in arms need our support during their time of great need, regardless of the cost to ourselves. Yes, I believe we will support them as needed tomorrow night."

"Yeah," Ruby said smirking, "I figure you would say that, so you'll tell them in the morning?"

"Indeed."

"Good, now then," Ruby said getting very close again and whispering in Weiss's ear. "I have a date waiting for me in the shower. I would invite you along but, you know, he loves me more than he ever could love you. And I would hate to see you get rejected like that."

"Oh, you think so, do you?"

"Well," Ruby said while slowly getting up and saucing her way to the bathroom. "When you have a Rose, nothing else smells as sweet."

Weiss waited till she heard the lock click into place, before she reached into her robe again. Pulling out a small bit of Dust, she summoned a small portal and blew the Dust into it. Then with a smirk, walked over to her bed, disrobed and slid under the covers before she heard a screech and a muffled curse. Smiling, Weiss put her hands behind her head and began a silent countdown. By the time she reached twenty, a very wet, very cross looking Ruby appeared over her.

"Stop using all the flacking hot water!"


End file.
